The Adventures Of The Chosen One
by Inferno972
Summary: Ash Ketchum starts his Pokemon Journey to become a Pokemon Master. As he progresses on his journey, he will meet new people and Pokemon, make new friends and our hero will realize that he is Chosen by 'The Father Of all Pokemon' as the one to maintain peace and justice in the Pokemon World. Mixture of AU and canon. AshxCynthia(Rayshipping) / AshxGiselle / AshxLeaf(Furthershipping)
1. The Journey Begins

_**The Adventures Of the Chosen One**_

* * *

_**I have completely re-written the first chapter of the fic. I gave more detail on how Ash got Pikachu. So enjoy the chapter, and review how you felt it was different from the earlier one.**_

**Note : Ash is 13 years old in this story. The reason I made Ash 13 is because there will be romance in this story every once in a while and another reason is that according to me, 10 years old leaving out to journey the dangerous world on their own is way too foolish. And this will also help Ash be in the same age group as some really good characters(mainly females). In this fic, Ash is smart, handsome and will discover that he has the ability to use aura. This fic will have Rayshipping and Googleshipping/Furthershipping. I am not sure about should it be Leaf or Giselle, so I will create a poll when I reach the point where I have to make a choice. Ash will be more independent in this story. He will have travelling companions but he will be smart enough to survive on his own if need be. Ash will catch more Pokemon than he did in canon(Not too many but more than he did in the anime) and most of his Pokemon will evolve. (There are exceptions).**

* * *

_**The Journey Begins**_

_**Ages :**_

Ash – 13

Leaf – 13

Gary – 13

Cynthia – 13

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

Everyone has a dream that fulfils their heart, a journey they must take, a destiny to fulfil. In a World full of hope and happiness, there exist creatures known as Pokemon.

The Pokemon World is an astounding place that almost defies description with it's abundance and grandeur, and of course, Pokémon. Flying high above the clouds, swimming deep under the sea, and roaming the rolling expanse of it's beautiful lands. They can be found everywhere you look.

Some people like to keep Pokemon as pets. People can capture Pokemon to be more than just pets. Human trainer and their Pokemon compete against others, in an amazing contest of skill and strategy and the best trainers one day, become Pokemon Masters.

* * *

In Pallet Town of the Kanto region, which is known as the town of A 'Pure White Beginning', we find a thirteen year old young man, named Ash Ketchum, who dreams of becoming the greatest Pokemon trainer, a Pokemon Master. The dream of becoming a Pokemon Master burns brightly for many, but none more so, than Ash Ketchum! He has pledged to become the greatest Pokemon Master and catch the strongest Pokemon in the world.

Today is the day Ash starts his Pokemon journey, and also get his first Pokemon from Professor Oak, the Town's Pokemon Expert. Professor Samuel Oak, is the person who gives beginning trainers in Kanto, their very first Pokemon. He was well known for his Pokemon research throughout the world and was also known to have written several famous Pokemon poems.

Ash woke up from his slumber in his bedroom, which had many Pokemon plushes lying on the floor and on the bed, as well as many posters of Pokemon sticking on the walls of his bedroom. 'Today's the day I start my journey and get my first Pokemon.' Ash had a huge smile on his face as he got up from his bed, and went to the washroom to have a shower. He got dressed and walked down the stairs to the living room. Ash was wearing a blue jacket with white collar and sleeves with a black undershirt, blue jeans along with green fingerless gloves and a white and red, official Pokemon League hat.

In the living room, a woman with amber eyes and auburn hair was sitting on the couch watching T.V.

"Good morning, Mom!" Ash greeted his mother as he sat on the chair by the dining table.

"Good morning, honey." Delia Ketchum, Ash's mother replied switching off the T.V and walking towards the kitchen. "Have you decided which Pokemon you will choose as your starter?"

"I don't know. Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle, any one of them would make a great Pokemon partner." Ash trailed off, dreaming about battling with one of the three starter Pokemon of the Kanto region.

Ash's mother quickly readied Ash's breakfast and kept it on the dining table in front of Ash, and he immediately started eating. After he finished his breakfast, he made his way to the door and started putting on his shoes, which were white with black stripes on either sides of it.

"Ash, I am so proud of you. You are finally going to fulfil your dream and start your Pokemon training. I am going to miss you so much! Oh, my little boy." Delia walked over to Ash with his backpack, covering her face with it, so as Ash couldn't see her sad face and continued "I packed your sneakers and jeans, nice clean shirts and underwear, you wallet which I filled with money, your favourite snacks and some hot chocolate, in case you want something hot but be careful not to burn yourself. I also packed a pair of rubber gloves to do your laundry and -"

Delia was cut off as Ash quickly snatched the backpack from his mother's grasp. "You are embarrassing me, mom. Don't you know I am a big kid now?! I am a Pokemon trainer from today, and Pokemon trainers can take care of themselves." Ash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly in embarrassment. He counted himself lucky that his mother never said these things in front of his friends.

Delia gazed at Ash with teary eyes as she thought. 'Oh, my Ashy is growing up so fast. If time keeps on passing so quickly, I will become a grandmother in no time.' She hugged Ash tightly as a tear fell from her eye on Ash's shoulder. "Please be careful, Ash!"

Ash could feel the love in the hug as he too was sad to leave her mother but he knew he had to pursue his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master and there was no other way to do it, other than go out and journey through the world and catch Pokemon and train them to be the strongest they could be. 'I will make you proud by becoming the greatest of them all.' Ash thought as he clenched his fists in determination.

Delia finally pulled out of the hug, kissed Ash on the cheek and handed Ash his backpack. "Goodbye, Ash! Call me whenever you need any money or have a girlfriend. And don't forget to change your underwear every single day."

Ash's face went beet red after her mom's statement about having a girlfriend. He didn't think he would be having a girlfriend on his Pokemon journey as he would be too committed on fulfilling his dream. But it wouldn't be a bad thing if he had a girl with whom he could share his secrets, happiness as well as pain and despair.

"Oh! Ash! Be careful! Officer Jenny issued a warning recently that there is a group of wild Beedrill in the area! It's very dangerous outside Pallet Town now!" Delia warned him with a stern look on her face.

"I'll be careful, Mom! Goodbye!" Ash gave his mother a warm smile who returned it and Ash left his house at the age of thirteen to finally begin his adventures in the World of Pokémon.

* * *

Ash walked through the serene and tranquil dirt roads of Pallet Town as the cool breeze passed throughout his body making his raven hair blow. He could hear the chirps and cries of the various Pokemon that resided in the vicinity of the town of Pallet.

After a few minutes of walking, Ash reached a double floored building with a wind turbine beside it.

The lab had many different environments for the correct development of all kinds of Pokémon. There were areas of grass, sand, rocks and lakes to promote good interaction between the different types of creatures. The laboratory had the technology to keep Pokémon healthy, and to make the largest scientific investigations in the country.

* * *

Ash entered Professor Oak's lab and immediately saw a brown haired boy and a brunette girl along with Professor Oak, standing around a round machine which had 3 Pokeballs in it. Ash recognized the boy as Gary Oak, the grandson of Professor Oak and the girl as Leaf, his childhood friend.

Gary stood one inch taller than Ash, having light brown hair and black eyes. He was wearing a purple full sleeved t-shirt, blue jeans, a chain around his neck and brown shoes.

Leaf was a couple inches shorter than Ash having brown eyes, and brunette hair, that beautifully came down to her back. She was wearing a light green, sleeveless blouse, red skirt along with a white, round hat, green socks and white, laceless shoes.

As Ash walked towards the trio, Gary picked up a Pokeball with the symbol of a blue water droplet on it and Leaf picked the one with the leaf symbol on it.

"So Ash, you have finally arrived to pick up your starter, eh?" Professor Oak chucked as he saw Ash join Leaf and Gary, near the machine.

"Yes, Professor! I am ready to get my first Pokemon and begin my journey to reach the top." Ash replied with a determined look in his eyes as he pumped his fist in the air.

"So you finally decided to show up Ash-boy?!" Gary smirked arrogantly as he started to roll his Pokeball on his index finger to show off.

Ash frowned as a vein appeared on his forehead. "Don't call me that Gary!" Ash yelled in annoyance. "Which Pokemon did you get anyways?"

"It's none of your business. If you would have showed up earlier, you would have seen that I got the best Pokemon from my Grandpa. It's good to have a grandfather in the Pokemon business, isn't it?" Gary smirked, and Leaf punched him in the chest, taking the brown haired teen totally by surprise, who now started coughing.

"You are annoying, Gary." Leaf stared at Gary for a moment before turning her gaze to the raven haired boy. "Hey, Ash! Wanna see my Pokemon?" Leaf greeted leaning forward.

"Oh, Hi Leaf! Yes, i would love to see it. Which one did you get?" Ash asked curiously as Leaf tapped the Pokeball in her hand and a green four-legged creature came out of the ball.

"Saur Bulbasaur." The Pokemon cried out before walking towards leaf and nuzzling her leg.

"Wow! That's a Bulbasaur." Ash stared at the Bulbasaur in admiration as Professor Oak and Leaf chucked at Ash's reaction and Gary frowned.

'Why did she have to show him her Bulbasaur?' Gary thought.

Bulbasaur was a small, quadruped Pokémon with green skin and dark green patches throughout it's body. It had thick legs, each end with three sharp claws. Its eyes had red irises, while the sclera and pupils were white. Bulbasaur had a pair of small, pointed teeth. It has a bulb on its back, grown from a seed planted there at birth.

"Isn't it the cutest thing?" Leaf took her Bulbasaur in her arms and petted it as Bulbasaur gave a cry of joy.

"Ash, It's time for you to get your starter Pokemon." Professor Oak stated getting Ash's attention as he ran towards Professor Oak in excitement and took hold one of Professor's arm.

"Where's my Pokemon, Professor? Is it a Charmander, a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle." Ash asked out of curiosity, imagining how any one of those three would be a a perfect companion for him.

Professor Oak removed a Pokeball with a lighting symbol on it from the pocket of his lab coat and enlarged it "Now, now Ash! Don't be so impatient. Your Pokemon is right inside this Pokeball. It's a Pokemon I caught recently. I warn you though. This Pokemon is not very friendly to humans, and it is very difficult to handle. Are you sure you want it?"

'So what would you do, Ash? I kept this Pokemon specifically for you to try and test your skill as a trainer. You have always been the one to come up with great strategies when I taught you about Pokemon. Let's see if you can live up to my expectations!' Professor Oak thought, smirking internally.

Ash looked at the Pokeball intently, and without any hesitation in his voice, he spoke. "Yes Professor, I will take it."

Professor Oak grinned as he was delighted that Ash had accepted the challenge of raising a Pokemon which hates humans. "If you say so, Ash. Don't tell me I didn't warn you."

Professor Oak tapped the Pokeball once, and after a bright flash of yellow light, a yellow mouse Pokemon with long pointy ears came out and stood in front of Ash. "Pikachu!" The Pokemon said calmly.

Pikachu was a short, chubby rodent Pokémon. It was covered in yellow fur, and its ears were long and pointed with black tips. It had a small mouth, brown eyes, and two red circles on its cheeks. There were pouches inside its cheeks where it stored electricity. Its forearms were short, with five fingers on each paw, and its feet had three toes. It had two brown stripes on its back, and its tail was in the shape of a lightning bolt with a patch of brown fur at the base.

"It's name is Pikachu!" The Pokemon Professor said as he took a couple of steps backwards without Ash noticing.

"It's so cute, it's the best of them all!" Ash exclaimed enthusiastically, picking up Pikachu in his arms.

"It's really cute." Leaf squealed as she quickly walked towards Ash and Pikachu. Gary stared at Pikachu, trying to study it.

"You'll see how cute it is!" Professor Oak said confusing Ash and Leaf as well as Gary.

Ash shrugged it off and hugged Pikachu, much to the displeasure of the little electric mouse. "Hi, Pikachu!" Ash greeted and immediately, he was shocked by Pikachu. Pikachu's electric shock startled Leaf as she fell on her butt.

"It's also known as electric mouse. It's usually shy but can sometime have an electrifying personality." Professor Oak explained as Ash was getting shocked by Pikachu.

"I … see what … you mean" Ash mused after the electric shock, finally experiencing a real Thundershock from an electric-type Pokemon.

"Shocking isn't it?" Professor Oak chuckled before walking off and picking up 2 red and one pink machine from the desk.

"Ash, are you okay?" Leaf asked worriedly as she walked to the toasted teen.

"I have been better. But thanks for asking!"

Gary stared in annoyance at the two trainers and he clenched his fists. 'Why does she even care for him?'

Professor Oak came back to the three rookie trainers and handed one machine to each of the trainers, Ash and Gary getting the red ones while Leaf received the pink one.

"These are Pokedex. They contain information Pokemon that you'll encounter on your journey. They also serve as your identification as Pokemon trainers." The Professor explained to the three beginning trainer who all nodded in unison.

"And these are empty Pokeballs. You can catch wild Pokemon in them. You can only keep upto 6 Pokemon with you at a time. When you catch any more than six, they will sent to my lab. So, don't worry if your Pokeball disappears after you have caught more than six." He also removed several Pokeballs from his pocket, and handed five each to Ash, Leaf and Gary and continued "I wish you good luck on your journey! Be careful and catch as many Pokemon as you can. Your very own Pokemon journeys begin now!"

Ash finally got to see Gary's starter, which was a Squirtle. Leaf returned her Bulbasaur to her Pokeball after scanning it. She came to know that her Bulbasaur was female. Meanwhile, Ash pointed his Pokedex towards Pikachu.

"**Pikachu, the Electric Mouse Pokémon. It can generate electric attacks from the electric pouches located in both of its cheeks. It's attacks are : Thundershock, Agility, Quick Attack and Double Team. This Pikachu is male. It's ability is Static. Static may paralyze the opponent on contact."**

"Those are some awesome moves." Ash placed the Pokedex in his pocket and threw Pikachu's Pokeball towards him but he slapped the Pokeball with his tail and it went back to Ash, who caught it.

"Why doesn't he return to his Pokeball?" Ash tilted his head and asked Professor Oak, who chuckled.

"There are some Pokemon who don't like to be in their Pokeballs. This Pikachu is one of those Pokemon." Professor Oak elucidated to Ash, while Pikachu nodded in agreement. Gary and Leaf also intently listened to Professor Oak's explanation.

* * *

After saying their goodbyes to Professor Oak, the three novice trainers walked out of the lab, where Gary's fan girls were waiting for him in a car.

"Hey Leaf, you wanna travel with me?" Gary asked the brunette as they walked down towards the road.

Leaf looked at Gary, smiling and replied. "I am sorry, Gary. I want to travel alone for now. I need to get used to travelling and the best way will be to start off alone."

"Oh, that's fine. Good luck on your journey!" Gary clenched his fists attempting to control his frustration. 'I wonder what would she had said if Ash had asked her.'

"So Ash, are you going to travel alone as well?" Leaf looked back towards the raven-haired trainer, curious to know his answer. Gary was watching them from the corner of his eye.

Ash was having problems dealing with Pikachu as he tied Pikachu to a rope and was literally dragging him. "Yeah!" He replied without even looking at the brunette as he was too busy managing Pikachu.

"Allright… I guess we go our separate ways from here. Bye!" Leaf said and waved to both Ash and Gary as she ran off in the direction of Route 1.

'I hope I meet him again soon.' Leaf thought as she kept her hand on her chest.

"Hey Gary. Let's have a battle when we meet again." Ash held out a hand to Gary who after a few moments, shook it.

"Sure. Just make sure you are at least a challenge to me." Gary smirked as he jumped into his car and it took off.

'You will be surprised, Gary.' Ash thought watching the car go out of his sight.

"Guess, we need to get going as well, Pikachu."

Pikachu just ignored him, as he looked in the other direction, nonchalantly.

* * *

_**Route 1 (Five Hours Later)**_

Ash had left the serenity of his hometown as he was walking down the path on Route 1. It was a dirt road with several trees and some open fields here and there. It was a quiet route which connected Pallet Town and Viridian City.

Ash was still having trouble getting through to Pikachu as Pikachu was still tied to a rope and being dragged by Ash. He looked at Pikachu as he thought about how to get Pikachu to trust him.

Ash sighed when he couldn't come up with anything. "Pikachu, are you gonna be like this the whole way?"

"Pi." Pikachu closed his eyes, looking away, trying to act cool and ignore Ash.

"Is it because you don't like me?"

"Pika pika," Pikachu nodded.

Ash knelt down to Pikachu's level and spoke, "Well, I like you a lot and since you are the Pokémon I am training, don't you think you could be a little nicer and listen to what I say?" Pikachu began scratching his face with his feet and licked his paw, not paying attention to anything Ash was saying.

"Chaa," Pikachu opened his mouth and yawned.

"Well then, you are just like all Pokémon and you should act like one and listen to me, just like it says here in the Pokédex." Ash grabbed his Pokédex from the pocket of his jacket, pressed some buttons and it began to speak.

"**While being trained, a Pokémon is supposed to obey its trainer."**

"You see?! I'll get rid of this rope and these gloves. This outta make things better!" Ash stated as he untied Pikachu from the rope and removed the rubber gloves that he was wearing in an attempt to befriend Pikachu.

Ash held out his index finger towards Pikachu. "How's that?" Pikachu ignored him and turned his head in the other direction. "Still not good enough?"

"Pika."

There was silence between the two for a few moments. Ash was looking at Pikachu and Pikachu's face was turned the other way as he glanced at Ash from the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, an angry buzzing filled the air near the trees where they were talking. The buzzing was slowly coming closer to them. Ash spun around, attempting to figure out exactly where the noise was coming from, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. He couldn't pinpoint it.

"What's that noise, Pikachu?" Pikachu pricked its ears and listened, suddenly interested in the situation.

"Pika…" Pikachu frowned in confusion.

Suddenly, Ash's eyes went wide as his mother's words rang clearly in his head and he realised exactly what he was hearing. He knelt down beside Pikachu and lowered his voice to little more than a whisper.

"Before we left, my mom said something about wild Beedrill. I think they're nesting around here. We should be very quiet. We don't want to startle them," He told Pikachu with a serious expression.

Pikachu scowled angrily. It wasn't taking orders! Not from any human! It clenched its little fists and glared angrily at Ash with electricity leaking and sparking dangerously from the pouches in its cheeks.

"Pika! Pikachu!" it shouted in an irritated tone. Ash raised a finger to his lips in an attempt to hush him as he heard the Beedrill slowly coming closer as if to inspect the source of the noise within their territory.

"Pikachu! Shh! We'll get caught!" he whispered in panic, trying to hush his disobedient starter.

Suddenly, Pikachu froze. Ash stared at it, wondering what was wrong with the little yellow mouse Pokémon as it stared past him to an empty space behind his head. Or, it would be empty if it wasn't occupied.

Ash slowly turned around, expecting the worst. There, hovering in the air, was a bug-type Pokémon armed with sharp-looking spear-like needles for arms, its clear wings flapping furiously and emitting a buzzing noise in order to keep it airborne. Its body was a bright yellow with black stripes and its large red eyes stared at him, just daring him to move as the sharp yellow stinger on its abdomen glinted dangerously.

Without thinking about the consequences of moving, Ash grabbed Pikachu and ran, knowing exactly what the Pokémon behind him was, even though he had never seen them in person before. They were on the news too much for him not to know what they were.

The Pokémon behind him made a series of short, sharp noises. Ash momentarily wondered what it was doing until several more Beedrill came into view, followed by more of them. It had just alerted the rest of the swarm. Ash gritted his teeth and ran faster as Pikachu struggled in his arms.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu protested and tried to get out of Ash's grasp.

"Now isn't the time, Pikachu! We're being chased by a Beedrill swarm! We have to run!" Ash snapped. He took a deep breath and smiled down at the angry Pokémon in his arms. "Don't worry, I'll protect you!"

Pikachu stopped struggling and stared at the human who was carrying him. This human was willing to protect him when he had been so rude to him. Why was he doing this? Humans were bad, weren't they? Yet, this human was helping him! It was inconceivable to the Pokémon.

Meanwhile, a huge white creature sitting on the throne in a massive Hall was watching the event unfold. "I apologize, 'Chosen One' for putting you through this, but this is a test you must complete to earn the trust of your Pokemon."

Pikachu looked behind Ash. The Beedrill swarm were slowly catching up to them. They would never make it to Viridian City in time to avoid the Beedrils. After much struggling, Pikachu managed to slip itself out of Ash's grasp just as they entered the flat grassland that led to the city, causing the young man to skid to a halt.

"Pikachu! What are you…?" He trailed off as he saw the look of determination on Pikachu's face as he turned to face the swarm.

"Pika!" Pikachu growled, its teeth bared and electricity sparking around its cheeks.

"Pikachu… Are you going to fight with me?" Ash asked in confusion.

Suddenly, he raised a hand to his face. Something had just hit him. A droplet of water. Looking up, Ash took notice of the storm clouds above his head. A roll of thunder sounded and everything lit up with a flash of lightning as the rain began to beat down on them and the wind howled.

At the sight of the lightning, the Beedrill slowed to a stop and Ash came to a sudden realisation. A smirk crossed his features and he turned to Pikachu who was still staring at the Beedrill with anger in his eyes.

"Pikachu! They're afraid of lightning! Use **Thundershock**!" Ash ordered, hoping that Pikachu would listen to him. To his surprise, Pikachu let off a large amount of electricity in the direction of the Beedrill which all parted to dodge the attack.

Suddenly, without warning, a Beedrill broke off from the colony and flew towards Pikachu at full speed. Having not expected the Beedrill to come out into the lightning-filled grassland, Ash and Pikachu were taken aback.

"Oh, no! Pikachu! Dodge it!" Ash commanded. Pikachu attempted to obey, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the stinger at the end of Beedrill's abdomen. After stinging Pikachu with it's stinger, the Beedrill quickly flew back to the swarm to avoid the lightning as Pikachu fell to his knees with venom coursing through its body.

Ash attempted to run to Pikachu but ended up tripping as the dirt became slippery underneath his feet, causing him to crash into the mud. He cried out as pain shot through his right ankle and he knew then and there that he had sprained it.

Pikachu turned around in alarm as he heard Ash's cry of pain and managed to stand and face the Beedrill, electricity leaking from his cheeks in preparation for a **Thundershock** attack as a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, striking Pikachu and filling it with power as it attacked the Beedrill in all directions, leaving them nowhere to run and no time to dodge.

Every one of them was struck down, covered with burns. Pulling themselves back up their feet, they began to flap their wings again in an attempt to make an escape from the powerful Pikachu and the young man that he was trying to protect.

After making sure that all of the Beedrill were gone, Pikachu finally let itself collapse, completely worn out and crawled over to Ash, completely drained and worn out with bruises all over his body and Beedrill's venom coursing through his veins. Ash sat up wearily, rubbing his injured leg and picked up Pikachu.

"Well, we beat them."

"Chu," Pikachu nodded before smiling, finally accepting Ash as his trainer and friend.

* * *

Ash and Pikachu were laying unconscious on the ground, until the morning sun shined brightly on our heroes. They both opened their eyes and smiled at each other, both happy as the other was safe.

Suddenly, they saw something in the sky. Turning their gazes towards it, they saw a huge and beautiful bird with rainbow-colored wings which were shining brightly as it flew right over the rainbow.

"What's that?" Ash got up quickly, finding that his sprain was only minor, grabbed his Pokédex and pointed it towards the huge avian.

"**There is no data available."**

"Wow. That means the Pokémon we saw must have been a rare Pokémon. I've read all about the Pokémon from the Kanto region, so that means the Pokémon we just saw is from another region," Ash said excitedly as he had both his fists in front of his chest like the starting position of a boxing match.

"Pika chuu." Pikachu mused, nodding his head in agreement.

Ash looked at Pikachu and realized that the rodent was in a terrible condition. "We need to get you to the Pokémon Center, Pikachu. Let's go!" Ash started walking in the direction of Viridian City.

* * *

On his way to Viridian City, Ash and Pikachu came across a river and Ash stumbled upon something. Looking down to see what it was, he saw a blue-coloured oval object. After a couple of moments, he realized that it was a Pokémon Egg.

Pikachu was fast asleep in his arms so he couldn't ask for his opinion. 'It wouldn't be safe to leave this Egg here,' he thought.

After a minute of thinking, he came to the conclusion that he should take the Egg with him and ask someone in Viridian City what to do with it. He kept Pikachu on the ground, opened his backpack and carefully placed the Egg in his backpack. He picked up Pikachu again and continued on his way to Viridian City.

"Well done, my Chosen One!" a voice said in a place known as the Hall Of Origin.

* * *

_**Viridian City**_

Ash trekked for another half hour through Route 1, and he could finally see Viridian City. It was a city full of greenery as well as modern towers. Ash was able to get a view of the entire City from where he was standing, with Pikachu, still fast asleep in his arms.

'We finally made it.' Ash thought, looking at Pikachu with determined eyes. He needed to get Pikachu to the Pokemon Center as quickly as possible.

Ash made his way down the hill in the direction of the City.

After a few more minutes of walking, Ash finally reached Viridian City. It was a beautiful city with buildings, houses and trees all around it. As Ash marched through the cemented road, a lady wearing a dark blue shirt and tight skirt, having amber eyes and greenish-blue hair stopped him.

"Hold it! Just where do you think you are going with that Pokemon young man?" The lady asked Ash leaning down to his level.

"My Pikachu's hurt, so I have to get it to the Pokemon Hospital right away. We were attacked by a awarm of Beedrills on our way here." Ash stated giving the lady a hard glare.

"Another victim of those Beedrills. We have called the Pokemon Rangers to deal with them. Just show me your identification as a Pokemon trainer and you can go. You see, there have been many reports about stolen Pokemon recently."

Ash remembered Professor Oak say that his Pokedex was his ID as a trainer. "Sure. Here it is." Ash removed his Pokedex from his pocket, pressed a button and showed it to the lady.

"**I am Dexter, a Pokedex programmed by Professor Oak for Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. My function is to provide Ash with information regarding Pokemon and their training. If lost or stolen, I cannot be replaced."**

The lady returned Dexter back to Ash and spoke "Thank you, and sorry for the trouble. You can get on your way."

"I just remembered about something." Ash spoke confusing the lady, who titled her head.

"Remember what?"

Ash removed the Pokemon Egg he had found and showed it to the Officer. "Do you know whom does this Egg belong to? I found it on my way here."

She quickly went inside and brought out a book which had reports of stolen or lost items. After she checked the reports, she looked back at Ash and said "I am sorry but there have been no reports of a stolen or lost Pokemon Egg. I suggest you keep the Egg until you come across the one who might have lost it."

Ash thought about it for a second before nodding. "Alright Officer. Thank you! I will be on my way now, I need to get Pikachu to the Hospital."

She smiled at Ash who smiled back, and was immediately on his way to the Pokemon Center that he located with the help of the his Pokedex.

* * *

_**Viridian City Pokemon Center**_

Ash ran towards the Pokemon Center, as soon as it came into view. It was a huge two floored building with Pokeball shaped roof. Ash entered the building and made his way to the counter located in the middle of the massive hall of the Pokemon Center where a pink haired woman was standing. "Nurse Joy, Please, can you treat my Pikachu. It got hurt pretty bad." Before starting his journey, Ash had read about Pokemon Hospitals known as Pokemon Centers.

Nurse Joy wore a white blouse and skirt. She quickly took Pikachu from Ash's arms and called for a stretcher. "Chansey, quickly bring a stretcher for a small electric Pokemon. We have got an emergency." Nurse Joy called out and immediately a Chansey came out and took Pikachu into the Critical Care Unit.

Chansey was a pink, ovoid Pokémon. There were three hair-like growths on the sides of its head, tipped with a darker shade of pink. On the center of its belly was a dark pink pouch that contained a single white egg. Its arms were stubby, and it had small, dark pink feet and a short tail.

"You have to be more responsible. If you want to become a Pokemon trainer young man, you don't let your Pokemon battle till it's in this condition!" Nurse Joy yelled at Ash angrily.

"I am sorry. What can I do to help? I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town by the way." Ash told the Nurse clenching his fists in a mix of anger and frustration while his hat was covering his eyes.

"Just leave everything to me. You will have to go the waiting room." She replied calming down a bit before she walked into the Critical Care Unit to heal Pikachu.

Ash went to the waiting room of the Pokemon Center to wait for Nurse joy and Chansey to treat Pikachu. 'How can I be so foolish to let my Pokemon get hurt to such an extent that it was on the verge of death.' Ash thought cursing himself in his mind.

* * *

_**After One Hour**_

Ash was waiting for Pikachu to be healed as he was sitting on the bench in the waiting room. Ash saw the door to the Critical Care Unit open and Nurse Joy coming out. He quickly got up and ran towards Nurse Joy. "Nurse Joy, how's Pikachu? Has he recovered?"

Nurse Joy looked at Ash seriously for a few moments before she made the victory symbol with two finger and smiled "Pikachu will be just fine, Ash. You got it here just in time. It should be as good as new in a couple of hours."

He felt relieved that Pikachu was fine and promised himself to always protect his Pokemon and never let them get in such a terrible condition again.

Ash remembered about the Egg he had found on his way to Viridian City and decided to ask Nurse Joy if she knew anything about it. He opened his backpack, removed the egg and showed it to Nurse Joy. "Hey Nurse Joy! Do you know what kind of Pokemon Egg this is? I found it just outside Viridian City."

Nurse Joy took a good look at the Egg. She kept staring at the unusual blue coloured Egg before she spoke "No Ash! I am afraid I have never seen such an Egg. You might have found yourself a really rare and special Pokemon Egg. But I can tell you one thing Ash, this Egg looks like it will hatch soon."

Ash was shocked when he heard Nurse Joy say that it is a really rare Pokemon, and to think he found it on the first day of his journey. He was really eager and curious to find out what kind of Pokemon will hatch from the Egg.

Ash controlled his excitement and returned the Egg back in his bag and sat on the bench nearby to wait until he could see Pikachu.

* * *

After around two and a half hours, Chansey brought Pikachu to the main hall of the Pokemon Center. As soon as Ash saw Pikachu, he sprinted towards him, and Pikachu seeing Ash, jumped into his arms. "I was so worried about you Pikachu. I am glad that you are all right."

"PikaPi Pikachu." Pikachu shouted ecstatically, happy to be with his first human friend again as he nuzzled his cheek against Ash's.

Suddenly, a girl came running into the Pokemon Center and went to Nurse Joy. She had blonde hair that reached her hips, gray eyes and was wearing a completely black outfit. Her hair covered her left eye and she was as tall as Ash. "Nurse Joy, can you please heal my Gible. She got injured in a Pokemon battle."

"Of course, that's my job." Nurse Joy took Gible's Pokeball and placed it in her healing machine and after healing it, she returned the Pokeball to the blonde haired girl who was standing at the counter.

"Here you go." Nurse Joy said with smile. "Thank you, Nurse Joy." The blonde haired girl thanked the Pokemon Nurse and took her Gible's Pokeball.

The door to the Pokemon Center opened again and a boy with gray hair came inside and walked over to the blonde haired girl. "Hey girl, now give me that Pokemon that you used against me. Gible was it?"

"What? Why should I give you my Gible?" The blonde haired girl almost shouted surprised by the boy's unusual demand.

"What do you mean by 'Why'? You lost to me so quickly hand the Pokeball over before I force you to give it to me! We made a deal that whoever lost would give their Pokemon to the winner." The boy came closer and stared at the girl. This made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"I would never agree to such a ridiculous deal. And besides, you used two Pokemon at once after I defeated your Mankey in our one on one battle."

"I must have forgotten to tell you about that. But that doesn't matter. Every trainer knows that when they lose, they have to surrender their Pokemon. I never said I would use only one Pokemon. You called the rules and I never said I agreed." The boy smirked.

Ash was standing just beside the two trainers and heard the whole conversation. This guy was getting on his nerves. "Hey, knock it off. Who told you that there was such a foolish rule about giving away your Pokemon when you lose." Ash said walking towards the two trainers.

The gray-haired boy clutched on to Ash's collar. "It's none of your business kid. Buzz off before I blast you. Machop, teach this kid a lesson." He threw a Pokeball and a Machop came out of it and took a fighting stance.

Machop was a humanoid, bipedal Pokémon that had gray skin. There were three brown ridges on top of its head, and it had large red eyes and relatively flat face. Its chest had three, thin, rib-like stripes on either side. Its feet appeared to have no toes, while its hands had five fingers. It had a short, stubby tail.

Ash was getting furious after hearing the boy's nonsense. Even Pikachu was annoyed as sparks were flying from it's cheeks. "Bring it on. Pikachu, I choose You!"

Pikachu jumped down from Ash's arms and stood in front of Machop. "Pika-pika-chuuu" Pikachu growled at Machop. "Machop!" Machop yelled showing his muscular biceps in an unsuccessful attempt to intimidate Pikachu.

Nurse Joy noticed that Ash and the boy were about to start a battle and decided to interfere. "Hey kids, you cannot battle in a Pokemon Center. You should go outside and battle. Do you realize just how much damage can be caused to the Pokemon Center if you battle?"

"Let's take this outside punk." The boy grinned at Ash in a challenging manner.

"Whatever you say. Let's get him Pikachu." Ash replied angrily and looked at Pikachu who seemed confident and ready to barbeque the Machop. The gray haired boy went outside the Pokemon Center with his Machop after motioning for Ash to follow.

"Don't worry, I won't allow him to take your Pokemon. That's as bad as stealing. I am Ash Ketchum by the way. What's your name?"

The blonde haired girl was staring at Ash wondering why he would defend her. "Oh… I am Cynthia Shirona. Nice to meet you, Ash." She smiled snapping out of her train of thoughts.

* * *

Ash and Cynthia walked outside the Pokemon Center and saw the boy standing near a tree with his Machop. "So you ready to give up your Pokemon?" The boy laughed evilly at the two novice trainers in front of him.

"Shut up, Pikachu let's go!" Ash took out his Pokedex from his pocket and pointed it towards Machop.

"**Machop, the Superpower Pokémon. Machop have muscles that never tire no matter how much they exercise. Machop have enough strength to throw 100 average sized adults."**

"Machop, use **Karate Chop** on that little mouse and send it flying." Machop's fist glowed and it charged towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu, dodge and use **Quick Attack**." Pikachu easily dodged the Karate Chop and ran towards Machop at high speed and hit Machop dead on the chest earning a grunt of pain from the Machop.

The gray-haired boy grit his teeth while Cynthia smiled watching Ash take the lead in the battle.

"Use your **Low Kick** attack!" The trainer yelled. Machop lowered it's feet and this time hit Pikachu but barely as Pikachu quickly got out of the way after Machop's foor brushed with his gut.

"Use your **Thundershock** at full power." Ash commanded. Pikachu's cheeked sparked and he sent a wave of electricity towards Machop and hit it causing a lot of damage.

Before the boy could give a command to his Machop, Ash said "Pikachu, let's end this. Use your **Quick** **Attack** at Machop."

Pikachu dashed towards Machop at a speed that only a yellow blur could be seen of him and hit it at the gut. Machop didn't even attempt to dodge or block as it was dizzy from the earlier thundershock.

"Maach .. op!" The boy's Machop screamed in agony.

As soon as Pikachu connected with Machop, it fell to the ground unconscious with swirls in it's eyes.

The boy grit his teeth in frustration and recalled Machop. "You got lucky there kid. But you be so lucky this time." He threw three Pokeballs which snapped open to reveal a Weedle, Spearow and Rattata. "Attack that rodent and demolish it you three." The boy shouted in anger at his three new Pokemon who followed their trainer's command and charged towards Pikachu.

Cynthia watched Ash and Pikachu worriedly but Ash just smirked. "Pikachu, show them your power with your strongest **Thundershock**."

Pikachu's cheeks sparked as he unleashed a full powered shock of electricity which connected with the three Pokemon easily defeating them. The trainer looked at his three defeated Pokemon in shock and horror as he recalled them and ran like he was being chased by a hoard of Tauros.

"Great battle, buddy. Was that **Thunderbolt** you just used?" Ash opened his arms as Pikachu nodded and jumped into Ash's welcoming arms and hugged his trainer. Cynthia was amazed by how good a trainer Ash was. She walked towards Ash and let her Gible out of her Pokeball. "Thanks, Ash. If you wouldn't have been there, I might have lost my Gible. She is my very first Pokemon."

Ash looked at the blue shark-like Pokemon and he didn't recognize it, so he removed his Pokedex and pointed it towards Gible.

"**Gible, the Land Shark Pokémon. Gible once lived in the tropics, and to avoid cold it lives in caves warmed by geothermal heat."**

"I have never seen this Pokemon before." Ash said staring curiously at Gible.

"It's because Gible and me are from the Sinnoh region. I am on a vacation with my grandmother. I have been to Celadon City, Saffron City and a few other places with my grandma. So are you going for Pokemon Gyms and then the Pokemon League?"

"Yeah. I want to be the greatest Pokemon Master ever. So I am going to challenge every gym and defeat them. What about you? Are you aiming to compete in the Pokemon League too?"

"Yup. I just got this Gible recently in Sinnoh. I am just starting out on my journey. You look like a good trainer. How long have you been travelling Ash?"

Ash rubbed the back of his head and replied "Well, you see. I just started my journey yesterday."

Cynthia was amazed by what Ash just said. She looked at Ash and Pikachu in awe. "What? You just started yesterday and you have such a strong Pikachu. That's awesome Ash." Pikachu rubbed the back of his head after hearing the compliment from Cynthia.

"So Cynthia, how long would you be in Kanto?" Ash asked the blonde beauty.

"Umm.. I guess I have at least two weeks before we leave for Sinnoh. I have been travelling alone for a week to see the Kanto region before I begin my journey. I really liked it, so I might journey through the Kanto region after I finish my adventure in Sinnoh and compete in the Sinnoh League."

"So why not travel with me until you go back to Sinnoh. You might enjoy it." Ash held out a hand which Cynthia gladly shook, a small hue of red appeared on her face.

"Really? That would be awesome since you are native to Kanto and you could show me around." Cynthia blushed thinking about the idea of travelling with the handsome young man.

"It's settled then." Ash said petting Gible on the head who was enjoying it. "It's almost dark. How about we spend the night in the Pokemon Center and leave for Pewter City tomorrow? There is a Gym in Pewter City and I plan on winning my first badge there."

"Sounds good to me." Cynthia and Ash smiled along with Pikachu and Gible who became quick friends.

* * *

They walked into the Pokemon Center together, sat in the waiting room and started talking about each other so as to know each other well. Suddenly, Ash felt something from his backpack and stood up.

"What is it, Ash? Is something wrong?" Cynthia asked the raven haired trainer who suddenly had a serious look on his face.

Without replying to Cynthia, Ash opened his backpack and saw that the Pokemon Egg he had found was glowing brightly. He removed the Egg from his backpack and held it in his hands.

* * *

**How was it guys? I hope you liked it.**

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	2. Enter : Team Rocket

_**Enter : Team Rocket**_

* * *

_**Ages:**_

Ash - 13

Cynthia - 13

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

The egg glowed bright white once again before it was replaced by a small dog like Pokemon with black ears, black legs and blue body. Slowly, the newly hatched Pokemon opened it's eyes which were red with black irises.

"Rio" the newborn Pokemon yelped. Cynthia was awestruck by the cute Pokemon sitting in Ash's arms. Ash looked at Riolu with gleam in his auburn eyes. Riolu was the first Pokemon that had ever hatched in front of Ash.

"Wow! That's a Riolu, Ash. It's a Pokemon native to the Sinnoh region, so I know about it." Cynthia chimed excitedly standing up and looking at the Riolu. Cynthia loved to learn as much about Pokemon as she could, and Riolu was a rare Pokemon. She had never seen one in person before so she was quite curious to get to know it better.

"_Father!"_ The Riolu said softly looking at Ash in the eyes. To the others, Riolu just barked but Ash could hear him speak clearly.

Ash was shocked to the core when he heard the new born Pokemon speak. "Hey? Can you speak?"

Hearing this, Cynthia turned to Ash. "How can it speak Ash? My grandmother once told me that some Psychic type Pokemon can speak using telepathy, but that takes a lot of training. Riolu is a Fighting type Pokemon, and it just hatched. So there's no way that it would be able to talk to you."

"But it just did! It called me father. Hold on, let me check out Riolu on my Pokedex."

"If you say so, then it must be true." Cynthia winked at the raven haired teen who was far too busy watching Riolu to see her wink, which made Cynthia pout.

Ash placed Riolu on the bench as he pulled out his Pokedex. Riolu was a bit shaken when the Pokedex suddenly began to speak.

"**Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. When sad or scared, Riolu's aura becomes stronger as a way of signaling its allies. Riolu has the power to see and understand emotions like happiness and anger in aura waves."**

"_You are my father, aren't you?"_ Riolu looked at Ash with eyes full of hope. Riolu's voice sounded like a little boy's, so Ash assumed that the Riolu must be male.

Not wanting to disappoint him, Ash picked up Riolu from the bench, smiled at him and cuddled him in his arms. "Yes, I am your father. Would you like to come with me on my journey?"

"_Of course, Father. I will come with you wherever you go." _Riolu squealed in delight and hugged Ash, who gladly returned the hug.

Ash smiled at the little Pokemon and pulled out a Pokeball and kept it on the bench in front of Riolu. "If you want to come with me, you will have to go inside this ball. It is called a Pokeball and it's a sign that you are my Pokemon, so no one else can catch you. It will be your new home."

The Emanation Pokemon nodded without any hesitation whatsoever, touched the Pokeball and after a bright red flash of light, he was sucked inside. The Pokeball shook three times and after a ping sound, Riolu now belonged to Ash. Ash picked up the ball, jumped in the air and posed along with Pikachu. "I just caught a Riolu!"

"Pi-pikachu!" Pikachu yelled, delighted to make a new Pokemon friend.

Ash looked at the Pokeball and thought 'Wow! I am so excited to meet more new Pokemon and catching them. It's so much fun to make new Pokemon friends.'

"Congratulations, Ash. What a cool way to catch a Pokemon." Cynthia said as she smiled at Ash on catching his first Pokemon. She was happy for Ash, but in her heart, she felt something that she couldn't comprehend. 'I wish I could have got such an egg.' She was jealous. But the feeling of jealousy in her heart was too small compared to the happiness she felt when she saw Ash smile and enjoy his capture.

'What am I thinking?' She shook the feeling off as her smile became a genuine grin.

"Thanks, Cynthia. I would never have thought that I would catch such an awesome Pokemon on just the second day of my journey."

"Come on out, Riolu." Ash threw Riolu's Pokeball in the air and Riolu came out of his ball in a bright flash of light. A huge smile crept upon Riolu's face when he saw Ash as he ran forward and hugged his father's leg.

"Hey Riolu!" Ash said as he began to pet the infant Pokemon. Riolu squealed, enjoying the attention he was getting from his father and trainer. "Riolu, meet Pikachu. He is my best buddy and my very first Pokemon."

Riolu was a bit hesitant towards anyone other than Ash, but after Ash explained that Pikachu wouldn't harm him, Riolu and Pikachu became friends and Pikachu took the role of mentoring the young Pokemon. Ash also introduced Riolu to Cynthia and her Gible.

"What a cute and adorable Pokemon!" Cynthia complimented Ash's Riolu, earning a yelp of joy from the young emanation Pokemon.

The three Pokemon played with each other for a while until Riolu came to Ash and spoke. _"Father, I am hungry. Do you have anything that I can eat?"_

Cynthia looked at Riolu and then at Ash curiously, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Ash nodded, opened his backpack and removed a container full of Pokemon food along with a bowl. He poured some Pokemon food in the bowl and placed it on the bench. Riolu started eating like there was no tomorrow. Cynthia chuckled watching Riolu eat ravenously. Meanwhile, Pikachu and Gible started to tug on Ash's jeans.

"What is it, Pikachu? Pikachu and Gible pointed towards Riolu eating his food and Ash chuckled. "Are you guys hungry too?" Ash removed the Pokemon food once again from his bag and poured extra bowls for Pikachu and Gible, who gladly accepted it and both began devouring the Pokemon food.

* * *

Suddenly, two Pokeballs burst out from the top of the Pokemon Center, and two Pokemon emerged from the balls. One of the Pokemon was a purple ball with poisonous-looking smoke coming out of the holes that were throughout it's round body and the other was a purple serpentine Pokemon with yellow coloured underbelly and rattle at the end of it's long body.

"Koffing" The purple ball pokemon shouted.

"Ekansss" The serpentine like Pokemon hissed glaring at our heroes.

The Koffing started to release smoke from the holes in it's body which covered the whole Pokemon Center. Ash quickly picked up Riolu from the bench he was sitting on and buried him into his chest. The scared little Emanation Pokemon held tightly onto Ash's undershirt.

"What are… who are they?" Ash asked totally surprised, while everyone in the Pokemon Center started coughing because of the smoke released from the purple blob like Pokemon.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves." A male voice came from the thick smoke catching everyone's attention.

"To Protect the world from devastation." A female voice shouted nonchalantly, as the smoke slowly started to clear out.

"To Unite all People within our Nation."

"To Denounce the evils of Truth and Love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie." A woman probably in her late teens announced herself proudly, as the smoke completely cleared allowing everyone to have a look at the uninvited guests. The woman had crimson coloured long hair and blue coloured eyes. She wore a white blouse that had a big red 'R' printed on it, a white skirt, black gloves that covered her arms and black boots that went up to her thighs.

"James." The other figure revealed himself to be a man, the same age as the woman, having purple hair and green eyes, wearing white shirt with an 'R' symbol, black vest inside his shirt, black gloves and boots along with white trousers. He also held a red rose in his right hand.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth, that's right!" A new figure entered the Pokemon Center. It was a cat like Pokemon with an oval shaped gold coin on it's forehead.

Everyone in the Pokemon Center gave the intruders an odd look and stared at the talking cat Pokemon in confusion. Cynthia pinched her cheek to check if she was dreaming, because this day was getting weirder by the minute.

Ash quickly grabbed his Pokedex and scanned the weird-looking cat Pokemon.

"**Meowth, The Scratch Cat Pokemon. It is nocturnal in nature. If it spots something shiny, its eyes glitter brightly."**

'So, that's a Meowth, huh?' After scanning Meowth, Ash pointed his Pokedex to the two other Pokemon that were with the weirdos named Team Rocket. First, he aimed his Pokedex at the poison ball like Pokemon and then pointed it at the snake like Pokemon.

"**Koffing, The Poison Gas Pokemon. Koffing hovers in the air, thanks to the poisonous gases it contains, which have a foul odour and can explode."**

"**Ekans, The Snake Pokemon. The older it gets, the longer it grows. At night, it wraps its long body around tree branches to rest. It eats the eggs of birds, such as Pidgey and Spearow, whole."**

"Now quickly hand over all the Pokemon you have or you will regret it." The woman now known as Jessie said in a commanding tone.

Everyone in the Pokemon Center except for our heroes began to panic, with a few trying to escape the Pokemon Center but weren't allowed to do so by the intruders, now identified as Team Rocket.

"You are wasting your time. This is a Center for weak and injured Pokemon." Nurse Joy said clenching her fists.

Hearing Team Rocket, Riolu began to panic as tears formed in his eyes. He tightened his hold on Ash and dug his face into his chest. _"Father, who are they?"_

"Don't worry, Riolu. I won't let them or anyone else hurt you." Ash calmly moved his hand through Riolu to comfort it. 'We have to get rid of these guys quickly. This kind of experience so early in his life can have a bad effect on Riolu.' Ash thought to himself while also thinking of a plan to battle Team Rocket.

"You are not getting our Pokemon, Gible, battle dance!" Cynthia yelled in fury and clenched her fists in anger remembering about the boy who threatened to take her Gible. Gible took her position in front of Cynthia, ready to battle Team Rocket.

"Yeah, If you think you can come and steal people's Pokemon, you are unfortunately mistaken Team Socket or Team Pocket or whatever you are called. I won't let you!" Ash said and looked at Pikachu. "Let's teach these losers a lesson, Pikachu." Pikachu ran forward and stood on all fours in front of Ash, ready to rock and roll.

"Pi-pikachu" Pikachu said it's name and a few sparks of electricity leaked from the red sacks on his cheeks.

"How dare you make fun of Team Rocket's prestigious name!" Jessie shouted glaring at Ash threateningly, who wasn't even fazed by her gaze. "Ekans, **Bite** that runt's little Pikachu and bring it down to size." Ekans opened it's jaws and charged towards Pikachu, with an intent to destroy him.

"You are going to pay for that kid. Koffing use **Poison Gas**" James commanded. Koffing obeyed his master and launched a sickly green coloured poisonous gas towards Ash and Pikachu.

"Ash, you protected me once. Now, it's my turn to protect you. Gible, use **Dragon Rage**." Cynthia said looking at Gible and pointing at Team Rocket.

"Gib-Gible." Gible stepped forward and unleashed a bluish-purple ray of draconic energy towards Team Rocket's Pokemon.

Gible's Dragon Rage collided with Koffing's poison gas and easily pushed it back hitting Koffing. It let out a cry when the attack connected but wasn't out yet.

'I have to be careful of those sharp fangs of Ekans.' Ash thought before commanding Pikachu. "Pikachu, use **Agility** to dodge and then use **Quick Attack** on Ekans."

Pikachu began to run in circle around Ekans, confusing it and just as he saw an opening, he charged towards Ekans at ultra-high speed which was enhanced by the use of Agility, and struck Ekans who collided with one of the walls of the Pokemon Center.

"What?" Jessie and James screamed in unison seeing their Pokemon being dominated by Pikachu and Gible.

Ash smirked victoriously when he saw the surprised expressions on the faces of Jessie and James.

"Pikachu, finish them with a **Thunderbolt**."

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark as it launched volts of electricity at Team Rocket. The thunderbolt struck Jessie, James along with their two Pokemon and it fried them to a crisp. Meowth jumped out of the way before the thunderbolt hit him.

"Aa … uhh .. oooh.." Jessie and James cried out after being zapped by Pikachu.

"Do I have to do everything?" Meowth yelled at his comrades. "That mouse is cat food. Pikachu, you are mine." The Meowth slowly began to walk towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu, use **Thunderbolt** again."

"Pikachuuuuu!" Pikachu released another thunderbolt attack which connected with Team Rocket, though this time Meowth wasn't spared. The thunderbolt was so strong that it sent Team Rocket flying back where they came from. Many things in the Pokemon Center were damaged due to all the fighting, but at least Team Rocket didn't steal any Pokemon.

Few of the people who witnessed Ash and Cynthia defeat Team Rocket thanked them.

Riolu also thanked Ash and company for protecting him.

* * *

About half an hour later, Cynthia and Ash decided to have dinner. Cynthia watched Ash eat 3 times the food she ate in practically no time. Ash fed the Pokemon food he had in his backpack to Pikachu, Riolu and Gible.

"Gible, return." Cynthia returned her Gible to her Pokeball and put the Pokeball in the pocket of her trouser.

"Riolu, you should get back into your Pokeball too." Ash pointed Riolu's Pokeball and a red beam of light came from the Pokeball towards Riolu, but Riolu jumped away from the beam.

"_Father, I want to be with you. Can I not go in the ball tonight?" _Riolu asked Ash, again amazing Cynthia who was still getting used to seeing a human understand a Pokemon at the level Ash understood Riolu.

Ash smiled at Riolu before he finally spoke "Of course, you can stay outside, Riolu. Even Pikachu doesn't like Pokeballs so he stays outside. It's your choice whether you want to go in the Pokaball or not."

"Pi-Pikachu." Pikachu nodded happily and climbed onto Ash's left shoulder.

Cynthia chucked, again impressed by the way Ash treated his Pokemon.

"_Thank you, father." _Riolu jumped and hugged Ash. He was truly lucky to have such an understanding and caring father.

"Hey Ash, let's rent rooms for the night." Cynthia suggested and Ash nodded in agreement. They walked to the counter of the Pokemon Center to book the rooms.

"How can I help you, Ash?" Nurse Joy asked Ash leaning her hands on the counter. She had just finished reporting the incident that happened in the Pokemon Center to Officer Jenny, the Police counterpart of Nurse Joy. To say she was tired would be an understatement.

"I will be coming back when I find any clues on Team Rocket." Officer Jenny said after she finished making the report on Team Rocket and waved her goodbye to the Pokemon Nurse.

"Thank you very much, Jenny." Nurse Joy thanked Officer Jenny as she walked away.

"Can we rent two rooms for the night?"

"Sure, Rooms 17 and 18 are empty." Nurse Joy gave Ash and Cynthia their room keys. Once they paid for the rooms, the pair walked down the corridor.

"Night Cynthia."

Cynthia leaned towards Ash and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Ash."

Pikachu grinned at the pair while Riolu just looked at Pikachu, totally confused and wondering why Pikachu was getting so excited.

Ash was taken totally by surprise by this gesture, but he couldn't deny that he enjoyed it.

Without looking at each other, Cynthia and Ash walked into their respective rooms, faces flushed from the kiss, and went to bed straightaway. It had been a long and tiring day for everyone.

* * *

_**On The Outskirts Of Viridian City**_

Jessie, James and Meowth were hanging on to a rope tied to a huge Meowth shaped hot air balloon.

"Great, a cat losing to a mouse." Jessie said giving Meowth a frustrated glare.

"That Pikachu is no ordinary Pikachu." Meowth yelled, defending himself. "And the Pokemon that was in that twerp's arms also looked like an extremely rare Pokémon." Meowth continued with a smirk on his face.

"The Pokemon used by the twerpette to attack my Koffing was also something I have never seen before." James emphasized. " Let's catch that Pikachu and the other two Pokemon along with it. They would make a perfect prize for the boss!" James exclaimed, almost letting go of the rope.

"Perhaps, we will." Jessie said, and just as she finished, the hot air balloon exploded and Team Rocket was sent flying into the night sky.

* * *

**Note : I won't repeat the Team Rocket motto every time they appear.**

**Follow, fav and review. I hope you guys enjoyed.**


	3. Training In Viridian Forest

_**Training In Viridian Forest**_

* * *

_**I am sorry that this chapter took a while to update. Enjoy!**_

_**Ages :**_

Ash - 13

Cynthia - 13

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

_**(One Week Before Ash started his Pokemon Journey)**_

_**Hall Of Origin **_

The Hall Of Origin was a place made up of pure crystal, which was located above the skies, unreachable to any living being except the ones approved by the God Pokemon, Arceus himself.

In The Hall Of Origin, there was a giant Pokemon sitting on a throne, which could hardly be matched by any human King's throne. The Pokemon known as Arceus, the God Pokemon, was a white equine resembling a qilin or centaur with a gray, vertically-striated underside. The striated pattern had similar recurrences on the underside of his mane, tail, and face. His four pointed feet were tipped with gold hooves. His long mane jutted away from his head, and his face was gray, with green eyes and red pupils, and a green circular pattern below his eyes.

Sitting on a luxurious chair right in front of Arceus was a pink feline Pokemon having three-fingered paws, large feet with oval markings on the soles, and a long, thin tail ending in an ovoid tip. She was named Mew by her father, Arceus.

"So, Daddy, why did you call me? I was having sooo much fun playing with little Keldeo in Unova." Mew said sulking and putting her paws on her hips.

"Mew, I came to know that when you were in Kanto just before going to Unova, some humans who are part of an evil organisation in Kanto, named Team Rocket were able to get a tiny piece of your being. They are planning to create an artificial Pokemon from the part of you that they have extracted. They are planning to make a clone of you, but far, far stronger." Arceus explained to his daughter gravely, his voice devoid of any exaggeration whatsoever.

"So, am I going to become a big sister, Daddy?" Mew squealed in delight and did a couple of flips to show her joy. She was completely oblivious of the danger her clone posed to the world.

Arceus sighed. He suspected that Mew would be too jolly and playful to deal with a Pokemon as vicious and dangerous as her clone. But on the other hand, he had full faith in her daughter's power and will, and he strongly believed that along with Ash, she would be able to face any threat that stood in the way of justice.

"Your clone might be younger than you in age, but he will be far superior to you in power and wisdom. His power even comes close to my own. This is no matter to be taken lightly." Arceus looked at Mew seriously before continuing , "To deal with your clone, we will need the power and purity of 'Thee Chosen One'."

"Who is the Chosen One, Daddy?" Mew asked tilting her head, puzzled by Arceus' explanation.

Arceus felt a presence enter the Hall Of Origin, but he knew who it was, so he brought his attention back to Mew. "His name is Ash Ketchum. He is 13 years of age, and he is going to travel the world in pursuit of his dream, which is to become a Pokemon Master."

Mew nodded before she spoke "So he is one of those humans, who keep Pokemon in those red and white balls. I always wonder how it must be in those balls?"

"Yes, my dear! It is my wish that you will travel with him and become his Pokemon. Along with The Chosen One, you will defend our world, and help him on his quest to fulfil his dream of becoming the very best Pokemon Master, there ever was." Arceus finished with a chuckle and shifted his gaze to the entrance of the hall.

"You may enter."

Promptly, a huge bird entered the Hall Of Origin. It was an avian Pokémon resembling a phoenix. Its feathers ware predominantly gold and red, with yellow tail-feathers, a white underside, and green feathers at the tip of its wings. It had a green stripe on its neck, a yellow beak, black rings around its red eyes, and a feathered, yellow crest on its head. "Greetings, Father." The rainbow-colored Pokemon greeted, bowing it's head in front of Arceus and taking her seat next to Mew. "Hello, Mew! I believe father has elucidated everything about the Chosen One?"

"Hey, Ho-Oh. Long time no see!" Mew greeted her sister, Ho-Oh with a bright smile. "Yes, Daddy told me about a boy named Ash Ketchup, and how I need to go and play catch with those red and white coloured balls and help him become a master at playing that game. He also said that I am going to become a big sister, again." Mew described her version of the Pokemon Master before doing a backflip and sitting back down on her seat.

At Mew's explanation, Ho-Oh burst out laughing and even Arceus found Mew's answer funny and couldn't help but chuckle.

"Haha …. You understand father very well, Mew! ... I am sure you will help him become the greatest Pokemon Master." Ho-oh finally managed to speak between her laughs.

"Ahem! Now to more serious matters at hand." Arceus called sternly, suspending the laughs from the legendary Pokemon. "Mew shall go with my Chosen One, and Ho-Oh," Arceus turned to Ho-oh and continued, "You will keep a constant eye on him, until he meets up with Mew. You shall organise a perfect event for The Chosen One to encounter Mew."

"I won't disappoint you, Great father!" Ho-Oh said, determined to do make Arceus proud of her.

"Mew, you should make you way to the Kanto region, and wait for the Chosen One. I will contact you when necessary. The Chosen One's aura is the same as mine, so you should be able to recognize him."

"As you wish, Daddy. Bye bye!" Mew exclaimed, hugging her father, who returned the hug.

* * *

_**Viridian City (Present Time)**_

"Let's go Ash, I can't wait!" Cynthia exclaimed loudly, as she was dragging Ash by the arm, Pikachu and Riolu following them.

"Cyn .. thia, I have …. to battle …. the trainer who chall … enged Pikachu!" Ash protested trying to free himself and go back to the Pokemon Center, but failed, miserably.

"You can battle later. I have to eat ice-cream before we enter Viridian Forest." Cynthia licked her lips as the ice cream parlour came into view.

Cynthia and Ash finally reached the ice cream parlour, Pikachu and Riolu arriving immediately after them. Pikachu climbed on Ash's shoulder and Riolu taking a seat on the bench by the parlour.

"How may I help you?" The man at the counter of the parlour sweetly asked Cynthia and Ash.

"Ummm… Should I have vanilla or chocolate?" Cynthia trailed off, trying to decide which flavour she should eat, imagining eating both of them in her mind and trying to figure out which flavour would taste better.

Without realizing it, Cynthia was now sticking her face to the glass of the freezer in the parlour. passer-byes were looking at Cynthia's oddly, giving her a few stares., which didn't went unnoticed by Ash.

"Umm… Cynthia? What are you doing?" Ash placed a hand on her shoulder, attempting to snap her out of her fantasy.

"WHAT!" Cynthia jumped as she came back to reality and fell backwards ending up in Ash's arms. The two looked into each other's eyes and kept staring for a few moments until the vendor of the ice-cream shop spoke, "So what would you two lovebirds like to have?"

Cynthia quickly balanced herself and unwillingly got herself out of Ash's arms and looked down, blushing. Ash wasn't faring any better as his face turned a bright shade of crimson.

Finally, Cynthia spoke looking deeply into Ash's eyes. "I love chocolate." Cynthia turned to the vendor and said "I will have a chocolate flavoured one, please." The vendor nodded and started to fill a cone with chocolate ice-cream.

It wasn't long before Cynthia was happily eating ice-cream on a bench by the ice-cream parlour with Riolu sitting happily beside her. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Ash bought his own ice-cream, something he was only doing because Cynthia had pretty much begged him to.

"Hey, are you a Pokémon trainer, kid?" The man behind the counter asked Ash as he began to fill a cone up with ice-cream.

"Yeah. I'm taking the Gym challenge with my buddy Pikachu, here," Ash grinned, pointing his thumb at the yellow Pokémon who was sitting atop his shoulder.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu cheered with a bright smile on his face.

"Well, if you're interested in Pokémon, did you hear the rumour that going around?" the man inquired as he handed the ice-cream to Ash.

"Rumour?" Ash asked, confused as he took the ice-cream from the vendor and paid for it.

"Yeah. There's a rumour going around that an extremely rare Pokémon has been seen in Viridian Forest," The man told him, leaning his arms on the counter.

"A rare Pokémon…?" Ash mused in a mystified tone, completely forgetting about the challenge that he received from the boy in the Pokemon Center.

"Yeah. No one knows what it is, but a guy from the other side of town saw it when he was in the forest training his Pokémon about a week ago. It teleported away before he could take a good look at it, but he's adamant that he saw something," The man informed Ash, his tone becoming serious.

"It teleported? That means that it's a Psychic-type," Ash pondered. The man nodded.

"Psychic-types aren't found in Viridian Forest. If there's a Psychic-type in there, it's one that nobody's seen before." Ash's eyes lit up with excitement. "Of course, not many people believe the rumours, but it's definitely worth checking out, don't you think?"

"Wow! We have to check this out, Pikachu! To even see such an amazing Pokémon sounds awesome!" Ash cheered. "Hey, thanks for telling us about this!"

The vendor laughed. "No problem! Good luck with your Gym challenge kiddo!"

"Thanks!" Ash smiled and walked to the bench, where Cynthia was sitting to tell her about what he had just learned.

After explaining the situation to Cynthia, she was just as excited about it as Ash was. "A rare Pokémon?! We have to check this out!" She cried enthusiastically, as she stood up, having just finished her ice-cream.

"I know! We should go as soon as possible! We don't want it to leave!"

Suddenly, something occurred to Cynthia, just as they began to head for the entrance to Viridian Forest.

"Wait! What about that challenge you got, Ash?" Cynthia asked out of curiosity.

"Huh? What challenge?" Ash raised an eyebrow at the comment as Cynthia shook her head in exasperation.

"Alright… Let's go…" She sighed as Riolu got off the bench and stood beside his father, ready to go.

"Yeah!" Ash chimed and started to run towards the Viridan Forest, to check if the rumours about the rare Pokemon were true , eating his ice-cream at breakneck speed.

"Wait up, Ash!" Cynthia called with a tone of annoyance as she hurried after the raven-haired trainer.

* * *

**Viridian Forest**

Viridian Forest was a dark and gloomy forest located between Viridian City and Pewter City. It was a deep and sprawling forest, said to be a natural maze as many people get lost inside. The trees in the forest were so thick that little light gets in, and because of this, the forest was said to be full of Bug Type Pokemon.

Ash and Cynthia had just entered Viridian Forest about a couple of hours ago, but were already unable to find a way through the forest as Ash's compass had stopped working. In simpler terms, they were lost. Not only that, but they were unable to find the Pokemon, about which they heard from the Ice-cream shop vendor.

"THIS SUCKS!" Ash yelled through gritted teeth, frustrated that he was unable to find the rare Pokemon rumoured to be sighted in Viridian Forest.

"Calm down, Ash." Cynthia kept a hand on Ash's shoulder, trying to soothe him. "I know you want to see the rare Pokemon we heard about , but I have heard that this forest is a huge maze and many people have gotten lost, few never to be found again." She stated as Ash began to come back to his senses.

"I guess you are right, Cynthia. Thanks! I needed that."

"No problem, Ash. You should look at the positives. You could use your time in the forest to train your Pokemon and maybe catch a few, and who knows we just might meet that Pokemon."

"You're right. I was so caught up in finding that Pokemon that I completely forgot that I have to evaluate a strategy for my Gym battle in Pewter City!" Ash shouted, cursing himself internally for forgetting about his Gym battle.

Immediately, Ash removed his Pokedex and pointed it at Riolu and pressed the Pokemon information button and the Pokedex began speaking **"Riolu's attacks are : Quick Attack, Foresight and Blaze Kick.. This Riolu is male. It's ability is Inner Focus. Inner Focus is and ability that prevents the user from flinching."**

Ash was impressed by Riolu's moveset. He didn't know about Blake Kick attack, so he clicked on the attacked and he got the information about it.

"Those are some really great moves you've got there, Riolu!" Ash complimented the little Pokemon, sitting down and keeping a hand on Riolu's shoulder, who looked at him with a smile.

'_Thank you. I am not perfect on using Blaze Kick yet, but I will try my best to learn it_ _completely._'Riolu explained using it's aura telepathy, with a determined look on his face.

"So, let's see how well you perform the moves. Cynthia would you mind training with Pikachu? As your Gible is a ground type, it would be the best training partner for practicing Pikachu's electric type moves." Ash looked over at Cynthia, who nodded and threw a Pokeball in the air and Gible stood in front of Cynthia.

'Considering how strong Ash's Pikachu is, this training might help Gible too.' Cynthia thought looking at Gible intently.

"Gible, we are going to help Pikachu strengthen his electric types moves. It would help you get stronger as well. So, are you ready?"

"Gible gib!" Cynthia's Gible nodded and seemed ready for the training, as he made his way to Pikachu and started talking, probably about how they would train. (Sorry, I can't understand Pokemon language in this story yet.)

Cynthia along with Pikachu and Gible started Pikachu's training on one side of the clearing. Riolu and Ash, too started training on perfecting Riolu's moves, and maybe learn a couple of new ones. Ash had learnt about Pokemon moves from Professor Oak when he taught him about Pokemon along with Leaf and Gary.

* * *

"Riolu, let's see your **Quick Attack **first." Ash commanded getting serious, and Riolu obeyed his father and started running at high-speed and only a blue blur could be seen of him as he returned to his starting position after performing the attack.

Ash stared at Riolu seriously for a few moments and then spoke "That was awesome, Riolu. That was some speed."

Riolu looked up proudly after hearing the praise from his trainer. _'Thank you, father. I will always try to do my best when I fight for you.'_

Ash smiled at the emanation Pokemon, trying to think of a good deed he performed to deserve such a loyal and dedicated Pokemon like Riolu.

"Now, use **Blaze Kick **on that tree." Ash pointed towards a tree in front of him, and as soon as Ash finished speaking, Riolu ran forward, with his right leg covered with fire, but just before he struck the tree, the fire died down and the Blaze Kick became a normal kick.

"So, you are not able to keep the fire lit for long enough!" Ash said, putting a hand on his chin in thought.

'_I am sorry, father. I will work hard and learn it as quickly as possible.' _Riolu looked down in disappointment, hoping that Ash wouldn't be upset because of his failure.

"Don't be discouraged, Riolu. We will work on it together and figure out a way to perfect it." Ash contemplated looking at Riolu, thinking of a way to perfect Blaze Kick.

Riolu was just gazing at Ash in admiration and respect, and now his will to get stronger had strengthened even more after hearing Ash's words. He would do anything for Ash, even put his life on the line for him, and he knew that Ash would do the same for him.

'It would be so much easier to teach Riolu how to keep the fire illuminated if only I had a Fire Type Pokemon.' Ash thought, as he looked at Pikachu launching thunderbolts at Gible nearby. Pikachu's thunderbolts were slowly but surely getting stronger every minute.

After much thinking, Ash finally spoke "Riolu, you should try to keep the fire in your foot lit for now and after that's done, we will work on accuracy and timing of the attack." Riolu listened intently to Ash, trying to take in every word he said.

'_Okay, father. But how do I prevent the fire from extinguishing?' _Riolu tilted his head in confusion, and looked at Ash hoping that his father knew a way out of this hole.

"You will have to distribute the energy used to make the fire better by not using it all at once. The power of the attack will increase after enough practice so don't worry about your attack being weak." Ash stated as he knelt down and started to pet Riolu, who barked in joy, and was once again full of energy.

* * *

_**Follow, Favourite and Review. I hope you enjoyed. **_

_**Also, the Dratini poll is still open so if you haven't voted, please do so.**_


	4. Bug Pokemon Attack! Pikachu's Death?

_**Bug Pokemon Attack! Pikachu's Death?**_

* * *

_**I know it's been a while since I uploaded the last chapter. I truly apologize for that. I was really busy with my studies. Anyways, I will upload the next chapter soon as I have it ready and it just needs to be read by my beta. Enjoy the chapter!**_

* * *

**Ages :**

Ash - 13

Cynthia - 13

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

_**Viridian Forest (5 Hours after Ash and Riolu started training to perfect Blaze Kick)**_

It was now evening as Ash and Riolu trained for a few hours. Riolu was now able to keep his foot lit for a much longer time and had almost perfected Blaze Kick. Pikachu's Thunderbolt was also quite stronger than before. Cynthia's Gible had learnt Dragon Claw, and she was delighted that her Gible had learnt such a powerful Dragon Type move. She wanted to try it out in a battle as soon as possible.

"So Ash, how did Riolu's training go?" Cynthia asked our raven-haired hero, as she sat down on the ground resting her palms on the cool grass.

Ash joined her on the grass and laid down putting his hands on the back of his head nonchalantly. "It went well. Riolu has almost got Blaze Kick in the bag. Some more training and he should be able to use it in his first Pokemon battle. I plan on using him in the Pewter City Gym battle. It is a rock type Gym, so having a Fighting Type Pokemon really helps. Of course, I have to teach Riolu at least one Fighting Type move before we reach Pewter City."

Suddenly, Ash saw a green caterpillar-like Pokemon through the corner of his eye heading his way.

"Uwaaaa" The green caterpillar cried as it approached Ash.

"Hey, that's a Caterpie!" Ash shrieked, immediately getting up and taking out an empty Pokeball from his pocket and enlarging it.

Caterpie was a green caterpillar with yellow ring-shaped markings down the sides of its body. It also had large yellow eyes with black pupils. Its most notable characteristic was the bright red antenna on its head.

'I know Caterpie are one of the Pokemon that are pretty easy to catch, so I could try throwing a Pokeball without battling it. If it doesn't work, I will use Pikachu to battle it.'

Ash turned his cap around and threw the Pokeball at the wild Caterpie, surprising Cynthia who was wondering why Ash would throw a Pokeball at a wild Pokemon without even battling it.

The Pokeball connected with Caterpie and it was sucked into the Pokeball in a red flash of light. Ash was waiting curiously, every second felt like ages to Ash.

Eventually, after shaking three times, the Pokeball made a 'ping' sound signifying that Caterpie was caught.

"YES! I DID IT!" Ash yelled at the top of his lungs as he dashed towards the Pokeball and picked it up, holding it in both his hands, Ash gazed at it with sparkling eyes. Caterpie was the first Pokemon Ash had caught in the wild. Even though he already had Riolu, he got the egg and hatched Riolu, and he didn't actually catch him in the wild. So this Caterpie was technically his first ever Pokemon capture.

"I caught a Caterpie!" Ash did his signature victory pose along with Pikachu as well as Riolu, punching the air in delight.

"Pi-Pikachu." shouted Pikachu making a V symbol with his paw.

"Riol" Riolu barked enthusiastically, as he was excited to make a new friend in Caterpie.

"That's great, Ash! That's the first wild Pokémon you've caught, right? I can't believe you managed to catch it without weakening it first! Talk about luck!" Cynthia congratulated Ash, walking towards the raven haired teen.

Ash grinned at her and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, well, I heard that Caterpie was one of the Pokemon which are pretty easy to catch, so I thought that I would try to catch it without weakening it first and, if that didn't work, I would have asked Pikachu to battle it." he informed Cynthia sheepishly.

'_Look at the sky, Father!' _Riolu suddenly exclaimed from beside Ash, tugging his trouser. Ash momentarily looked down to see the young Pokémon point at the sky, his eyes sparkling excitedly. Looking up, Ash saw exactly what was making the little Riolu so excited. The sky had a shade of orange, as the sun was setting.

Even through the trees, he could see that the sky was absolutely beautiful; a mix of red and orange, just as if someone had set fire to the sky. Here and there, fluffy orange clouds dotted it like little puffs of smoke.

'_It's beautiful…'_ Riolu gasped.

"Oh, yeah. This is the first sunset you've ever seen, right, Riolu?" Ash asked Riolu with a smile, as he sat on the grass beside Riolu, watching the sunset along with the infant emanation Pokemon.

'_What's a sunset?'_ Riolu cocked it's head in confusion, briefly looking at Ash before returning his gaze to the beautiful sight that he was watching for the first time.

"Yes. It's when the sun… is just about to say goodbye for the day! Then the moon comes up to say 'hello' and the moon keeps us company, when the sun is sleeping so we won't feel lonely in the dark!" Ash improvised, trying to word it in a way that the little Pokémon could understand.

Cynthia was also admiring the beautiful view that they were getting to see. Pikachu happily rested himself in Ash's lap, while Cynthia sat down beside Ash with her Gible following suit.

'Goodbye? Why does the sun have to go father?' Riolu inquired. 'Can't the sun stay with us like you always stay with me?'

"Because it knows that Pokemon have to sleep." Ash stroked Pikachu's ears earning a 'chaa' from the mouse Pokemon, before continuing "That's why sun says goodbye and tells us that it will come back tomorrow." Ash explained Riolu, while Pikachu and Gible also listened intently, even though they knew that Ash was making this all up.

'_Really? That's so nice of it!'_ Riolu exclaimed aurapathically, suddenly standing up and facing the setting sun. _'Bye-bye, sun!'_ he yelled, waving at the disappearing orange sphere in the sky.

Cynthia giggled at the tiny Pokémon's antics before turning to face Ash. "We should set up camp. As you said, little Pokémon need to sleep!"

Ash chucked before responding "Yeah. Let's get started!" He took his bag off his back and kept in on the ground. Unzipping it, he pulled out his sleeping bag. Cynthia copied him as Ash got up to find some firewood to light a fire in order to keep them warm.

* * *

It wasn't long before they had the fire going and a meal in their stomachs that Cynthia prepared. Ash was amazed by Cynthia's cooking and he told her that she cooked somewhat like her mother, but not as delicious. The moon was peeking through the trees and everyone was asleep aside from one tiny Pokémon. The little Pokemon stared up at the twinkling lights in the sky before looking at his father.

'_Father was right…' _Riolu smiled before yawning loudly and lying down close to Ash and closing his eyes. _'I don't feel lonely…' he muttered. _It didn't take long for the little Pokemon to find sleep and enter his beautiful dream world.

* * *

It was almost morning as the moon and the stars were fading away, making room for the sun to rise as Ash's eyes snapped open suddenly when a loud noise reverberated through the forest, waking him up. He sat up groggily and slowly rubbed his eyes before taking a look around himself to see where the noise came from in the dim light of the rising sun, accidentally disturbing Pikachu in the process.

"Chaa…?" Pikachu complained quietly in a squeaky voice, as if it was wondering exactly what had caused his trainer to disturb him. Pikachu rubbed his eyes with the back of a tiny paw as he stared at Ash tiredly.

"Did you hear that, Pikachu…?" Ash asked his partner as he continued to look around him for the source of the noise.

"Pika Pi…" he yawned as he shook his head in order to tell Ash that he didn't hear a thing.

"Huh… It must have been a dream… Sorry to wake you, Pikachu…" Ash grumbled as he began to lie down again in an attempt to get more sleep before the others woke up.

Suddenly, Pikachu's ears twitched just as he was about to curl up beside Ash again as he caught a noise deeper into the forest. The noise resounded again, this time much louder than before and Ash knew that what he had heard was no dream. The noise was a loud, shrill scream.

"Ugh…" groaned Cynthia as she was roused by the noise.

'_What was that?'_ Riolu began to stir, as the sudden scream woke him up as well.

"… Somebody screamed…" Ash responded, unable to process what was happening in his tired mind as he stood up.

"Screamed?" Cynthia moaned. Her eyes snapped open as the realisation sunk in. "Screamed?! What if someone's in danger?! We need to check it out Ash." she panicked, quickly getting up. She started to pack her stuff as she knew that it might be trouble and they had to be ready to deal with anything.

'_What's happening, Father?'_ asked Riolu with a confused expression.

Ash looked at Riolu for a moment before replying "I don't know, Riolu, but I'm not going to wait to find out." Ash told him. He bent down, picked up his hat and placed it on his head with a serious expression on his face. He turned to Cynthia who seemed to have read his mind and was all packed up and ready.

"Riolu, I think you should get back in your Pokeball for now. It might not be safe outside. I will let you out of the Pokeball as soon as I find it safe." Ash explained to Riolu, who was a little upset, but totally understood what Ash meant. Riolu knew that Ash was doing this for his safety, but he also knew that he had to help his father in anyway he could.

'Father, I want to stay with you. I want to help you.' Riolu protested.

Somehow, Ash was able to feel Riolu's resolve and his will to fight. He was confused as to why he was sensing this but he pushed it aside for the time being.

"Alright Riolu. You can stay outside for now. But promise me that you will go back inside your Pokemon if things get dangerous." Ash bent down, keeping a hand on Riolu's shoulder and the emanation Pokemon nodded.

"We have to check this out," Cynthia stated with a determined expression. She picked up her backpack and removed her Gible's Pokeball and called her out.

"I know. We should hurry."

* * *

With the Pokémon in tow, Ash and the others began to run through the forest at a high speed towards the direction they heard the screams from, bowling through bushes and breaking branches as they went, the twigs snapping harshly beneath their feet. They heard another scream and the sound of an explosion further into the forest.

"We're nearly there!" Ash shouted back at Cynthia.

Just then, they broke out onto a clearing in the forest – the site of another explosion which blew all kinds of debris in their direction. Someone was blown back across the war-torn clearing and landed in front of them. It was a red-headed girl, no older than they were.

The girl had bruises throughout her body and had a few scratches on her face as well.

On the opposite side of the clearing, there was a group of Pokemon, which Ash as Cynthia identified as Bug Types. The Pokemon in the group included a few Beedrils, and one Pinsir, who was standing in the middle of the Beedrils.

Pinsir was a bipedal Pokémon with a wide, dull brown body and a large pair of grey, spiky pincers on top of its head. Its legs were short and thick while its arms were long and thin, and each limb ended with three grey claws.

The red-headed girl was trembling with fear as she kept moving back. "I … I ha-te.. bug type Pokemon?" She muttered.

Ash and Cynthia quickly ran towards the girl and helped her up. "Hey, are you okay?" Ash asked the girl who was still trembling because of her fear of Bug types.

"No… Do I loo- look okay?" The red-headed girl responded, covering her eyes with her hands.

Ash walked forward, while Cynthia applied some medicine on the wounds that were on the girl's body. Ash narrowed his eyes and looked at the Pokemon that were standing in front of him. There were around 10 Beedrils along with the Pinsir. He eyed the Pinsir, who returned his glare and they both kept staring into each other's eyes for a short while. All the Beedrils that were flying around the Pinsir started buzzing and started to moved towards Ash and Pikachu until the Pinsir shouted it's name and all the Beedrils instantly stopped and moved behind the Pinsir.

Ash had realized what the Beedrils were about to do. He figured that the Pinsir must be the leader of their group. He looked down at Pikachu and said "Pikachu, you know what to do, right?"

Pikachu replied with a 'Pikachu', nodded his head and stood on all fours right in front of the Bug Pokemon.

"Riolu, you should go and be with Cynthia. This could be dangerous." Ash told Riolu, who went to Cynthia, keeping his promise that he made to his father earlier.

"Gible, we should help Ash." Cynthia stood up and walked towards Ash, with an intent to help him.

As soon as Ash saw her walking to him from over his shoulder, he extended his left arm and spoke "Leave this to me, Cynthia. You should take care of the girl. I think that Pinsir is the leader of their group and if Pikachu defeats it, all the others will probably leave us."

Cynthia contemplated for a second before nodding and walking back with her Gible.

"Let's do this Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed as both Pikachu and Pinsir walked forward for a battle.

Ash quickly took out his Pokedex to get some information on Pinsir. He raised the Pokedex towards the Pinsir and the mechanical voice of the Pokedex started speaking.

"**Pinsir, The Stag Beetle Pokemon. This fearsome Pokémon uses its powerful claws to put the squeeze on its opponents."**

After taking in the information he received about Pinsir from the Pokedex, Ash kept away the Pokedex back in his pocket and eyed his opponent, who yelled it's name, lowered it's head and ran towards Pikachu.

'That must be Pinsir's **Vice Grip**.' Ash thought.

"Pikachu, intercept it with your **Quick attack**."

Upon hearing Ash's command, Pikachu ran towards Pinsir at high speed. The distance between Pikachu and Pinsir decreased, and in a moment, both their attacks collided.

At that moment, Ash realized that he had done a big mistake by telling Pikachu to intercept with Pinsir's **Vice Grip**, because Pikachu was now stuck in between Pinsir's horns. The Pinsir was decreasing the distance between his two horns as Pikachu tried to protect himself by pushing against it's horns with his hand, but was no match for Pinsir's strength.

"Pikachu, quickly use **Agility** to get out of it's grip." Ash yelled, worried for the safety of his Pokemon.

Cynthia, the red-headed girl along with Gible and Riolu were watching Ash's battle intently, and they were praying that Pikachu was strong enough to defeat the mighty Pinsir, which was supposedly the leader of the group of Bug Pokemon.

Pikachu obeyed his trainer as he tried to free himself, by using his speed. Pikachu mustered all the strength he had and used Agility to successfully escape from Pinsir's horns and ran back to his trainer's side.

Ash sighed in relief as his plan worked. "Great, now use **Thunderbolt.**"

Pikachu said his name as he closed his eyes and released yellow electric volts from his cheeks which were aimed in the direction of the wild Pinsir. It tried to move out of the way of the **Thunderbolt** but wasn't fast enough and he was shocked by Pikachu's attack. Pinsir roared upon this as it's fist glowed brightly and he darted at Pikachu.

"Use **Double Team** Pikachu." Ash said, hoping that multiple copies of Pikachu would confuse Pinsir.

Pikachu created many copies of himself that surrounded the Pinsir. Pinsir stopped in it's tracks and tried to find the real Pikachu. He eyed all the copies Pikachu had created, and just a moment later he dashed towards one of them and struck the copy with his glowing fist and to Ash's surprise, Pinsir had hit the real Pikachu.

"Pikachu, No!" Ash shouted in concern for his starter as Pikachu was thrown back by Pinsir's **Brick Break**.

Cynthia gasped at how powerful and intelligent the Pinsir was. She never expected a wild Pokemon like Pinsir to be so smart.

Pikachu was down and had quite a few bruises on his body. He was trying his best to get up.

Riolu and Gible both ran forward, and yelled their cries in an attempt to encourage Pikachu.

"Pikachu, please get up. We can't lose this." Ash mumbled, loud enough for Pikachu to hear.

Pikachu remembered about the incident with the Beedrils on the day Ash started his journey and thought about how Ash tried to protect him. He knew that Ash had faith in him and he wanted to come through for his best friend.

Pikachu slowly got up on his paws and turned back to look at Ash. His eyes met with Ash's and he realized that Ash's eyes were full of concern as well as trust for him. Pikachu came to one conclusion – He had to win. He couldn't fail Ash.

Immediately, Pikachu turned his gaze to his enemy and glared at it. Pinsir did the same and there was a silence in the clearing for a few moments.

The silence was broken by Ash as he finally gave Pikachu a command. "Pikachu, use **Quick Attack** and then use **Thunderbolt** at the Pinsir."

Pikachu scurried off at Pinsir at high speed and this time, he was faster than the last time he used Quick Attack. Pikachu's Quick Attack struck the wild Pinsir, who cried it pain. Pikachu wasted no time in unleashing a powerful Thunderbolt at Pinsir, which connected with the Pinsir and did a lot of damage. Pinsir grunted and was about to fall but before it fell over, it quickly lowered it's head and formed a cross with its horns, and Pikachu was struck right on the belly by the **X-Scissor** attack, as he was too close to get away. The force of the attack threw Pikachu back and he landed harshly on the ground and so did Pinsir.

Both Pokemon shakily got up to their feet, smirked at each other and again fell down on the ground. This time, they didn't show any signs of movement.

Ash quickly rushed towards Pikachu and picked him up in his arms. Pikachu had bruises and cuts on many parts of his body. "Pikachu, are you ok, buddy?" Ash was in horror as Pikachu gave no response. A tear formed in his eyes as he quickly opened his backpack, removed a potion and sprayed it on Pikachu.

Cynthia, the girl, Riolu and Gible, all approached Ash. They all had worried expressions on their faces.

'Father. Why is Brother Pikachu sleeping like that?' Riolu questioned innocently through his aura. He hadn't seen a Pokemon faint in a battle yet, so he was unaware of what had happened to Pikachu. Promptly, Riolu noticed something near a tree beside them, but he didn't bother too much about it.

Just then, the Beedrils started to buzz as they approached our heroes. Before they could reach them though, the beat down wild Pinsir slowly started to get up and yelled at the Beedrils, who stopped in their tracks and immediately, They retracted and two of them picked up the Pinsir and went back into the forest.

* * *

**Follow, fav and review if you liked it.**

**I hope you enjoyed.**


	5. The Rare Pokemon Appears!

_**The Rare Pokemon Appears!**_

* * *

**Ages :**

Ash - 13

Cynthia - 13

Misty - 13

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

A few minutes had passed after Pikachu had gone unconscious. Cynthia had applied some of the herbal medicine her grandmother gave her. They also made Pikachu drink some Oran Berry juice which Ash had bought while in Viridian City, but that too made no difference.

Ash looked at Pikachu in his arms as his eyes began to water, and a few tears ran down his cheek. Cynthia put a hand on Ash's shoulder and squeezed it tightly to comfort him, as he fell to his knees.

Even Riolu and Gible had a few tears in their eyes. Riolu had finally realized what had happened after Gible carefully explained everything to him.

"It's all my fault." Ash screamed as more tears ran down his face and fell on the ground. His eyes colour was changing rapidly, from auburn to blue and again auburn. This colour changing process was brief and ended after only a few seconds.

Cynthia decided that it was best to be quiet for now. She knew nothing she did could change Ash's mind.

The red-headed girl internally cursed herself for being so scared of bug types. She too, blamed herself for this situation and was unable to find her voice.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared and everyone closed their eyes in order to shield them. The light faded away after just after a couple of moments and everyone was able to see again.

To Ash's surprise, he saw Pikachu's ear moving. Cynthia and the other also turned their attention to Pikachu.

"Pikapi." Pikachu said weakly as he snapped his eyes opened. He looked at Ash, who was still in shock.

"Pikachu. You're okay!" Ash yelled ecstatically, hugging his starter Pokemon. "I thought…. I thought….." Ash wasn't able to complete his sentence as more tears formed in his eyes and fell on Pikachu.

Cynthia and Misty were shocked how Pikachu had healed. They were wondering where the light came from and how did it heal Pikachu.

Pikachu looked up at Ash, with a sad look. He was about to jump on Ash's shoulder but he instantly felt pain surge throughout his body and grunted in pain.

It didn't take long for Ash to realize that Pikachu was still injured, as he quickly sat down and laid Pikachu on the ground. He opened his backpack and removed some berries and medicine. Ash applied the medicine and gave the berries to Pikachu, who leisurely ate them.

Riolu and Gible sat beside Pikachu and started talking in Pokespeech.

Ash then turned to the red-headed girl and decided to introduce himself. "Hey, I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. " He said extending a hand towards the girl.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Misty Waterflower." Misty replied shaking Ash's hand. Misty also introduced herself to Cynthia and she told her about her sisters too.

It had been a quite a while since Ash and friends had woken up in the morning because of Misty's scream.

"So Ash, let's get to our campsite or we might get lost." Cynthia stated to which Ash nodded.

This caught Misty's attention. "Hey, can I… Can I travel with you guys through Viridian Forest?" She asked nervously, looking at the ground and putting both her hands behind her back. "I mean there are lots of Bug Pokemon and I am really scared of them. So would it be okay with you guys?"

"Of course, you can travel with us. The more the merrier I say." Ash responded immediately with a smile, which made Misty smile as well.

At this, Cynthia frowned. She wasn't too happy with Misty travelling with them. She wanted to travel with Ash alone for as long as she could. She only had a little more than a week left in Kanto.

"Let's go guys!" Ash exclaimed as he started walking ahead of everyone else, with Pikachu in his arms and Riolu beside him. Cynthia returned her Gible to her Pokeball and hurried towards Ash, Misty following suit.

* * *

After walking for a few minutes, our heroes reached their campsite. They rested for about an hour and had their breakfasts, which Cynthia cooked for them. Cynthia was an excellent cook and she proved that again with her delicious meals. Misty was curious about Ash's emanation Pokemon so she finally asked Ash about Riolu as she had never seen a Riolu before and he explained that Riolu was a Pokemon from Sinnoh and he had recently found the egg which hatched into Riolu.

Pikachu was now feeling much better, although he still was a bit sore. He was currently comfortably sleeping in Ash's sleeping bag.

"Hey guys, I am going to train my Pokemon." Ash stood up along with Riolu, who was jumping in excitement.

'_Let's go father. I want to train and perfect Blaze Kick.'_ Riolu tugged on Ash's pants, unable to remain patient. He wanted to prove himself to Ash, the way Pikachu did after he went head to head with the wild Pinsir.

"I know you want to learn that move perfectly to use it our Gym battle." Ash chuckled, as he bent down and petted Riolu.

Misty was confused at this. She thought that Ash was crazy and decided to question Ash about how he could understand Riolu. She was about to ask Ash about it, when Cynthia stopped her as she knew exactly what Misty must be wondering about.

"You are thinking how Ash can understand Riolu, aren't you?" Cynthia asked Misty, to which she nodded.

"Yes."

"Even I was confused at first and couldn't believe it. But somehow, it's true. Ash can understand Riolu."

Misty's admiration for Ash had increased after Cynthia told her that he could understand Riolu.

"Hey Cynthia." Ash called and looked at the blonde-haired girl who was sitting on the ground.

"What is it, Ash?" Cynthia replied, turning her gaze to Ash.

"Can you take care of Pikachu for me?"

"Sure, Ash. Don't worry about him." Cynthia smiled at Ash, who smiled back at her and ran into the forest to train with Riolu in tow.

Misty was watching Ash go and couldn't take her eyes of him. She thought Ash was really a hard working guy who treated his Pokemon really well. She was also impressed by his determination and she thought he was cute too. Thinking so much about Ash made her blush a little which Cynthia noticed and she decided to snap her out of her fantasy.

"Ahem…" Cynthia coughed "Do you want something Misty?" Cynthia said, startling Misty who almost jumped in surprise.

Misty looked at Cynthia in embarrassment. "Uh… Nothing, Cynthia. I was just thinking… I was just thinking about my sisters in Cerulean City." Misty lied

Cynthia knew exactly what was going in Misty's mind. 'I would never let a girl like Misty get _my_ Ash.' Cynthia thought. 'What _my_ Ash?! I don't like him, do I?' Cynthia questioned herself in her mind. She felt something towards Ash. It had just been a few days since she met him but she felt a connection to him.

"So Cynthia, have you visited Cerulean City on your trip here?" Misty asked, deciding to change the subject, which worked as Cynthia also didn't want to think about her feelings for Ash right now.

* * *

Ash and Riolu had walked into the forest, so that they could train. They were now about 15 minutes walk away from their campsite.

"Riolu, we will be working on your Blaze Kick today. We should also try out a fighting type move. If you learn a fighting type move before our Pewter City Gym battle, it would be a lot easier for us to win the Gym Badge." Ash explained to Riolu, who had a determined look on his face. Riolu wanted to please his father and the best way to do it would be to help him win the Petwer City Gym badge.

'_Okay. I will try my best.' _barked Riolu, enthusiastically.

Ash removed his Pokedex and searched for a few fighting type moves. He came to know that Riolu can learn a good amount of Fighting Type moves : Brick Break, Rock Smash, Low Kick, High Jump Kick and many more.

But there was one move that caught Ash's attention – Force Palm. Ash realized that there were only a handful of Pokemon who could lean Force Palm, and luckily for him, Riolu was one of them.

"Hey Riolu. We will be working on teaching you Force Palm." Ash told Riolu, looking down at him and continuing. "It is a great Fighting Type move and it would fit perfectly in your arsenal. Are you up for it?"

'Yes Father.' Riolu replied through his aura, gazing Ash in the eyes.

Ash remembered something as he quickly removed a Pokeball from his belt, enlarged it and threw it in the air. The Pokeball snapped open and Ash's Caterpie came out of it.

"Uwaa." Caterpie squalled crawling towards Ash and climbing on his shoulder. It was delighted to be with it's trainer again.

"I am happy to see you too, Caterpie." Ash managed to say between laughs as Caterpie was nuzzling it's face against Ash's.

Ash picked up Caterpie from his shoulder and brought it in front of his face. "Hey Caterpie, are you ready to train and become stronger?"

Caterpie responded to Ash by nodding it's head and cooing. Ash removed his Pokedex from his free hand and pressed a few buttons and it began to speak. **"Caterpie's attacks are : Tackle, String Shot and Bug Bite. This Caterpie is male. It's ability is Shield Dust. Shield Dust protects the user from any additional effect of moves that cause damage."**

Ash was quite happy from Caetpie's moveset. Soon, Riolu and Caterpie started training, in order to get stronger.

* * *

_**Few Hours Later**_

"Allright Caterpie, use Bug Bite on that tree again." Ash commanded to his Caterpie, pointing his index finger towards the tree. Riolu had taken a little break between training as he was sitting beside Ash and watching Caterpie train.

As soon as Caterpie heard Ash, he charged forward as a couple of little shining fangs appeared near his mouth, and struck the tree biting it repeatedly. After performing the attack, Caterpie gracefully landed back on the ground.

"That was awesome Caterpie. You certainly are getting stronger." Ash cheered, picking up Caterpie in his arms, who squealed in joy. Even Riolu complimented his little friend.

Suddenly, a bright light engulfed Caterpie as his shape started to change. In Ash's arms now, rested a cocoon-like Pokemon, completely green in color. His eyes appeared to be dazed and emotionless.

"Caterpie, you… you evolved." Ash chimed happily hugging Metapod, who emotionlessly said his name.

Ash's happiness was beyong belief. He had only seen Pokemon evolve on T.V and he had never experienced it first hand. He had always dreamt of evolving his Pokemon and now that dream had become a reality.

Even Riolu was in awe at the sight he had just seen. He was seeing new and amazing things so often, and they were just getting more interesting.

Ash decided to check out Metapod on his Pokedex as he pointed it towards him.

"**Metapod, the Cocoon Pokémon and the evolved form of Caterpie. Metapod's vulnerable body is surrounded by its hard shell, which protects it while it waits to evolve."**

Ash also learned that Metapod now knew Harden and his ability had changed to Shed Skin which healed the user's status effects like paralysis, naturally.

* * *

_**About 4 Hours Later**_

Ash, Riolu and Metapod were resting on the ground after a long training session. All of them had sweat on their body, even Metapod. Metapod and especially Riolu had trained really hard today. Riolu after much hard work finally perfected Blaze Kick and Ash told him that he could now use it in real battles which had a joyous effect on the emanation Pokemon. Riolu had learned Force Palm as well. Ash was surprised at how quickly and easily Riolu had learned Force Palm. It seemed like the move came naturally to Riolu, which unbeknown to Ash was the truth.

"Good job, guys." Ash complimented his Pokemon glancing at them with a warm smile. Riolu was overjoyed at this as he tackled Ash to the ground, while Metapod as usual said his name impassively.

Ash sat back up from the ground, picked up his backpack and said "I think we should get back to the others. Pikachu should be awake by now." Ash glanced at the sky before continuing "It's almost evening. Cynthia must be worried and I am really starving. Aren't you two hungry too?" Just then, Ash's stomach growled which caused Riolu to laugh at this and even Metapod couldn't help but change his tone.

Ash called Riolu back in his Pokeball as he and Riolu started walking in the direction of their campsite.

* * *

Ash and Riolu reached the clearing after a few minutes of walking, their heads were hanging low because of hunger. Their noses instantly sniffed as they smelled something delicious. They followed the smell and walked to the source of it. The smell was coming from a stew which was being cooked near their campsite, but surprisingly, there was no one there. They gave no other thought as both of them started to devour the stew. In a matter of minutes, the bowl was empty, Ash and Riolu sitting comfortably on the cool grass, scratching their stomachs.

"That was awesome." Ash shrieked happily, grinning.

Riolu cooed in delight as he too was amazed by the food which had filled their stomachs.

"I wonder who cooked it? Do you think it was Cynthia?"

'Yes, I think it was Miss Cynthia. I love her cooking.' Riolu replied cheerily, pumping one of his hands in the air. He really loved Cynthia's cooking as he was also quite happy with the meal she had cooked last night.

They sat there for a few minutes until they heard someone talking nearby. Looking in the direction of the voices, they saw Misty, Cynthia, Gible and Pikachu all approaching them.

"You are finally back, Ash." Cynthia smiled at Ash, walking towards them.

Ash noticed Pikachu was now acting normally and he seemed okay. "Pikachu, how are you feeling now? Any better?"

"Pikapi Pikachu." Pikachu said merrily, as he jumped into Ash's arms and gave him a hug, which Ash returned.

As Cynthia was walking towards Ash, she noticed the bowl in which she was cooking the stew was empty. "WHO ATE THIS?" screamed Cynthia, scaring everyone in the group, especially Ash and Riolu. They knew they would be the prime suspects.

"Uh…. You see Cynthia, we were kinds starving and we didn't…" Ash wasn't able to complete his statement as he saw Cynthia glaring daggers at him. There was only one emotion that Ash was felling right now - fear.

Ash started to creep backwards as he saw Cynthia come near. As the distance between them decreased, Ash's fear increased.

Finally, Cynthia was now right in front of Ash as she glared down at Ash, while Ash closed his eyes in fright.

Cynthia leaned down and took Ash's hand in her own. "So how was it Ash? I made that stew specifically for you." Cynthia said sweetly, smiling at Ash with a tinge of red on her cheeks.

This wasn't what Ash expected. He was expecting Cynthia to pummel him and beat him up for eating her stew. Gible and Pikachu sweatdropped at this.

Ash sighed in relief. "It was… It was delicious. That was the best stew I have ever had. Your hands are magical." This compliment made Cynthia's blush increase and her cheeks went beet red. If she didn't have a body, anyone could have mistaken her face to be a giant tomato.

She looked away to hide her red face and replied. "Thanks. You don't know what it means to me coming from you."

"I just told you the truth." said Ash, rubbing the back of his head.

Riolu, once again couldn't make out what was happening and he decided to ask his Uncle Pikachu about it. Pikachu and Gible were giggling and whispering amongst themselves. They were really enjoying seeing their trainers together.

But someone in the group wasn't particularly thrilled about this. Misty was getting a little bit jealous of Cynthia right now. She tried to push the feeling away but she was just unable to get that jealousy towards Cynthia out of her heart.

Ash got back up as Cynthia unwillingly let his hands go. They both went near their tent and sat along with Misty. Misty and Cynthia explained to Ash how Pikachu had woken up and was feeling all better. They said that they were getting bored so they went out to explore a bit nearby and found a little pond. They fished for a couple of hours and Misty caught a Psyduck.

They all were now sitting near their tent as Misty decided to strike a conversation with Ash. "So how'd you training go, Ash?" Misty leaned closer to Ash and smiled.

"It was awesome. Oh and I forgot about something." Ash replied with a grin as he removed a Pokeball and enlarged it. Cynthia, Gible, Pikachu and Misty were curious to know what Ash was about to show them. Ash released the the Pokemon in the Pokeball and Ash's newly evolved Metapod came out of it. "Meet Metapod guys."

Upon seeing Ash's Metapod, Misty instantly got up and ran away from him. Cynthia after a moment of thought realized that the Metapod was Ash's Caterpie.

Meanwhile, Pikachu, Gible and Riolu had surrounded Metapod and were now discussing something.

* * *

_**Pokespeech On :**_

"Hey there, Metapod. It's nice to meet you." Pikachu said, smiling at the newly evolved Metapod.

"You sure have changed a lot after evolving." Gible commented in her feminine voice as she took a good look at Metapod's body.

"Okay." Was all Metapod said. It confused Pikachu and Gible because Metapod was so much unlike the enthusiastic Caterpie which they knew.

"So how did you evolve?" Pikachu asked, sitting down to which Metapod gave no response.

Pikachu waved his hands in front of Metapod, but he didn't change his look.

"What's up with him?" Gible tilted her head.

Just then, Riolu decided to bud in. "You see, Metapod doesn't talk too much. I'll explain you what happened during our training."

_**Pokespeech Off.**_

* * *

Riolu explained everything that happened during their hours of training and how Metapod evolved. He was too joyous when he told them about perfecting Blaze Kick and learning Force Palm.

"So, that's your Caterpie I assume." Cynthia stated, eyeing Metapod.

"Yes, Caterpie evolved during training. Isn't it awesome?" Ash cheered with sparkling eyes to which Cynthia sweatdropped. Ash just saw how freaked out Misty was so he decided to encourage her to come near Metapod. "Misty, you don't need to be scared of Metapod. It won't hurt you."

"I don't li.. like bugs!" Misty screeched loudly, covering her eyes with her hands. "I know it's really cute and all but you know…"

Metapod just gave an 'I don't care' look to Misty.

"Alright. But you don't need to run that far." Ash pointed his finger at Misty to show her how far she had run off.

"Ohh. I guess I got carried away." Misty said sheepishly, as she reluctantly returned and sat next to Ash.

The rest of the evening was quiet with Misty telling more about herself to Cynthia and Ash and vice versa. Ash also told Misty about the rumours about the rare Pokemon spotted in Viridian Forest and she too, was curious to know what it was.

It was almost night as Ash saw a flock of Pidgeys flying across the forest as the sun was setting. He wanted to catch one of them but they were flying too high in the sky and he didn't have any Flying type Pokemon to battle the Pidgey in the air.

Cynthia once again made dinner for them and even Misty was now a fan of her cooking, though she hated to admit it. After a bit of chatting, all of Ash's, Cynthia's as well as Misty's Pokemon were now asleep along with their trainers. Misty had decided to introduce her two Pokemon, Staryu and Psyduck to Ash's and Cynthia's Pokemon so she had let them out and everyone decided to keep their Pokemon outside their Pokeballs for the night.

* * *

It was 8 am in the morning now, as Ash along with Pikachu and Riolu was searching for berries and fruits in the forest. When they woke up in the morning, Cynthia informed them that they were out of food and they would need to find some food in the forest if they didn't want to starve. Misty and Cynthia were also searching for some berries and fruits in the other direction.

Ash was walking through the forest looking around in hope of finding something. As he was looking through the trees, he noticed something on one of them. "Hey look, those are Sitrus berries." He shoute as he ran in the direction of the tree, Pikachu and Riolu perched up on his shoulder.

"Hey Pikachu, could you climb on the tree and get the berries?" Ash asked his partner, who nodded and jumped right on the tree.

As Pikachu was climbing on the tree in order to get the berries, a bird-like Pokemon flew past him, plucked the two berries from the branch and ate them.

The bird Pokemon was covered with brown feathers, and had a cream-colored face and underside. It also had a crest of pink feathers on its head and black streaks behind its eyes. The plumage of it's tails were red and yellow and it had light-pinkish talongs.

At this, Pikachu was enraged. "Pi-pikachu!" He yelled at the Pokemon.

"That's a Pidgeotto!" Ash exclaimed excitedly, removing his Pokedex and pointing it towards the Pidgeotto.

"**Pidgeotto, The Bird Pokemon and the evolved form ofPidgey. It is armed with sharp claws and dives from the sky to capture its prey. It is very protective of its sprawling territorial area and this Pokémon will fiercely peck at any intruder."**

Meanwhile, Pikachu was getting annoyed by the Pidgeotto who was laughing at Pikachu as if he was pathetic. Pikachu wouldn't let any bird get the better of him.

"Hey Pikachu, are you ready for a battle?"

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said as he got down from the tree and glared at the wild Pidgeotto.

"Use your **Thunderbolt** at Pidgeotto." Ash commanded and Pikachu released high power electric current from his cheeks.

The Pidgeotto though was fast enough to dodge and it was now flying towards Pikachu at high speed, but Pikachu managed to barely dodge its **Quick Attack**.

"Use **Thunderbolt **again."

Pikachu attacked the Pidgeooto again with his Thunderbolt and this time he managed to connect as the Pidgeotto cried in agony, taking a lot of damage from the super-effective move.

As soon as it fell to the ground, Ash flipped his cap backwards and threw an empty Pokeball at the Pidgeotto and after shaking a few times, it made a 'ping' sound signifying Pidgeotto's capture.

"Alright! I caught it!" Ash shouted, picking up the Pokeball. Realizing, that it had been quite a while since they had left to find food, Ash told Pikachu to quickly pick up the remaining berries from the tree. After carefully placing the berries in his backpack, they returned to their campsite.

* * *

When Ash returned, he found Cynthia and Misty were already waiting for him. They ate the berries they had found, and resumed their journey through Viridian Forest.

Ash, Misty and Cynthia were now almost at the end of Viridian Forest and they could see the trees getting lesser as they travelled. They had been walking for the whole day as it was now around 7 pm in the evening and the sun was starting to set.

"Cynthia, lets set up camp here." Ash said looking at her as she nodded. "We'll probably reach Pewter City tomorrow after a few hours of travelling."

"Alright Ash. Can you find some firewood?" Cynthia checked her backpack and sat down along with Misty and continued. "I think we have enough berries left for us to eat for tonight."

* * *

It wasn't long before Ash, Misty and Cynthia had eaten their meal and they had settled in for the night, the Pokemon curled up beside their trainers as the humans also drifted off to sleep in their comfortable sleeping bag, but they didn't know that someone was watching them with a lot of interest and amusement. All was shrouded in darkness and not a sound was to be heard for miles around except for the frail noises of the Pokemon residing in the forest.

Everyone in the group was comfortably sleeping except for one – Ash.

Ash had just woken up as he thought he heard someone calling his name. 'It must have been a dream.' He thought as he went back to sleep. As he was sleeping, a pink energy surrounded him and he was lifted in the air, without him even knowing that he was now floating. The pink aura was taking Ash away from the group and somewhere into the forest.

The energy had now brought Ash in a small clearing and he landed there with a bang as the aura surrounding him faded away.

"Awwww…." Screamed Ash, rubbing his eyes with one hand and his head with the other and he heard someone laughing nearby. He looked around him and when he saw the source of the laugh, he was utterly shocked and wasn't even able to move.

_'Hey, Ash!'_ The being greeted Ash, giggling at Ash's dazed expression. The voice was female and was as beautiful a voice you could ever hear in your life.

"Mew." Ash uttered the name of the Pokemon in front of him, still having a shocked look. He tried to rub his eyes to check whether it was a dream or not and he realized that everything he was seeing was real. "How can this be possible? ….. And how in the world does the Legendary Pokemon, Mew know my name?"

Mew was again amused by Ash's response as she giggled and did a backflip. _'You are the Chosen one, Ash. And I am going to come with you. Now where's that thing you trainers call Pokeball?'_ Mew asked putting a paw on her chin and looking at Ash, in order to locate a Pokeball.

Ash was speechless right now. Not just he saw a Legendary Pokemon, but it also wanted to come with him. People spent their whole lives searching for a Legendary Pokemon and would do anything to just get a glimpse of one, and Ash had come across a Mew, who wanted to join him.

"You… want to come with me?" Ash questioned Mew, trying to contemplate if he had heard her right.

_'Of course, Ash. Daddy told me to come with you.'_ Mew replied cutely as she floated closer to Ash.

'Why would Mew come here just for me?' Ash was in thought until he realized something. The rumoured Pokemon seen in the forest must have been Mew.

Mew had finally found a Pokeball on Ash's belt as she spoke 'Hey Ash, quickly throw that ball on your belt at me.'

"Are you sure about this?" Ash asked after gathering himself.

_'Yes.'_

"Here goes." Ash mumbled, removing an empty Pokeball and throwing it at Mew. The Pokeball struck Mew, sucking her inside.

Ash watched nervously as the Pokeball shook three times and made a 'ping' sound and Mew now became one of Ash's Pokemon.

The Pokeball containing Mew was now laying on the ground, unmoving. Ash still couldn't believe what he had done. He had captured the Legendary Mew.

Ash slowly walked over to where the Pokeball was. He picked it up and gazed at it with a serious expression on his face. He was just staring at the Pokeball for about a minute or so when suddenly, the Pokeball snapped open and Mew came out of it.

_'I feel dizzy. But it was pretty comfy in the Pokeball thing.'_ Mew stated telepathically as she placed both her paws on her head and shook it.

"I am sorry Mew. It's normal to feel a bit dizzy if you are not used to Pokeballs." Ash smiled at Mew and continued "I think we should go back to our campsite. Cynthia and the others might get worried if they somehow wake up and don't see me."

Mew nodded as she flipped, and lifted Ash with her Psychic powers and took off at an amazing speed in the direction of their tent.

* * *

Ash and Mew reached the campsite in almost no time. Ash was very impressed by Mew's speed. He had to remind himself that Mew was a Legendary Pokemon and he shouldn't expect any less from her. He decided not to tell anyone about Mew except for his Pokemon. He thought it would be best to keep it a secret for the time being. Mew told Ash that she wanted to be outside her Pokeball for the night to which Ash agreed without any complaints.

Soon, Ash drifted off to sleep in his sleeping bag as Mew went into the forest to spend the night as tomorrow she would begin her adventures with _'The Chosen One'._

* * *

**In the next chapter, Ash and co. will reach Pewter City and probably Ash's first gym battle would be in the next chapter as well.**

**Fav, follow and review.**

**I hope you enjoyed.**


	6. Earning The Boulder Badge

**Earning The Boulder Badge**

* * *

**Ages :**

Ash - 13

Cynthia - 13

Misty – 13

Brock - 17

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

**Answer to RYNO IV's Review : I am not trashing Cynthia. She is just going to Sinnoh because I don't want her to be in the main cast this early. Don't worry, I love Rayshipping too so she will come back later.**

* * *

"Riolu, finish it with **Force Palm**."

As soon as Riolu heard Ash's command, he ran at his opponent, a Mankey and kept his right palm on the Mankey's belly, unleashing a bright yellow blast of energy at it. The attack was so strong that it sent the Makey flying as it crashed with a nearby tree, unconscious with swirls in it's eyes.

Cynthia observed the Mankey for a while and discerned that it wasn't moving and extended her hand at Ash. "Mankey is unable to battle. The winner is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

Ash's opponent, a young boy wearing blue shorts and a grey t-shirt recalled his Mankey and walked to Ash. He extended his hand which Ash gladly shook. "I guess you are a better trainer than me. I hope to battle you again." He smiled and walked off as Ash petted Riolu after a well fought battle.

Ash, Cynthia and Misty were now at the outskirts of Pewter City. They were only a few minutes walk away from Pewter City as they had started travelling again in the morning and they exited Viridian Forest after only an hour of walk. Unbeknown to them, they were being followed by someone from underground.

Ash hadn't told anyone about Mew yet, not even his Pokemon as he hadn't found time alone with them. When Ash woke up in the morning, he found out that Mew was already inside her Pokeball and he wondered when she decided to go inside.

Along the way, Ash had fought a couple of Pokemon battles against trainers who challenged him. In one of the battles against a Bug trainer named Samurai, Ash's Metapod evolved into Butterfree while battling Samurai's Kakuna who also evolved during that battle. After a fierce battle between Beedril and Butterfree, Butterfree was able to come out on top by defeating the Beedrill with his newly learned **Gust** attack. He had also used Pidgeotto in the same battle against Samurai's Scyther. During their battle, Ash found out that his Pidgeotto was female and knew the moves – **Gust**, **Sand Attack**, **Quick Attack** and **Wing Attack**. She had the Ability **Keen Eye **which prevents the loss of accuracy and ignores any increase in evasion of the opponents. He won that duel by using a strategy in which Pidgeotto combined **Sand Attack** and **Gust**, which created a Sandstorm, blinding Scyther and then finishing the battle with a well timed **Wing Attack**.

"Look out Pewter Gym, here I come." Ash declared exuberantly, marching down the road to Pewter City with Pikachu and Riolu in tow. He was already excited about his Gym Battle and the trainer battles he won only strengthened his will and determination to win his first ever Gym Badge.

"Wait up, Ash." Cynthia and Misty grumbled in unison, following Ash. They literally had to jog if they wanted to keep up with Ash, as he was walking quite quickly, excited for his upcoming Gym Battle.

* * *

_**Pewter City**_

It had taken them more than a week, but their destination was finally here. Pewter City had finally arrived.

As Ash, Cynthia and Misty entered the city, they noticed many rocks here and there and there were even shops that sold rare stones and many other stuff made from stones.

The first thing that came to Ash's mind was the Gym, but it didn't take him long to realize that he had to work on a strategy first before challenging the Gym.

* * *

After strolling in the City for a while, our heroes found the Pokemon Center and Ash decided to heal his Pokemon. Ash, Cynthia and Misty entered the Pokemon Center and Ash headed straight for the counter. He handed all of his Pokeballs with Pikachu, except for Mew's Pokeball to Nurse Joy who took them inside for treatment along with Pikachu who was sitting comfortably on the tray.

Meanwhile, Cynthia was currently speaking on the phone with an old lady, wearing a pink blouse and purple skirt which went down to her knees and she had grayish-blonde hair.

"So, when are we leaving, grandmother?" Cynthia smiled at the lady on the screen, who was now identified as her grandmother.

"Next week. We have exactly 7 days remaining. We'll get aboard our cruise at Mt. Moon. I am in Cerulean City so you should make your way here by the bus. It will get you here in a few hours. " Came the reply from Cynthia's grandmother.

"Grandma," Cynthia said before continuing in a pleading way, joining her hands in front of her grandma. "Can I meet you at Mt. moon on the day out cruise leaves?"

At this, Cynthia's grandmother frowned. 'Why does Cynthia want to stay in Pewter City and meet me directly at Mt. Moon?' she asked herself. 'When she left, she told me that she would join me one week before we leave.'

Ash's Pokemon were all healed, as the Nurse Joy gave him back his Pokeballs, Pikachu taking his position on Ash's shoulder. When they were getting healed, Ash had given a thought to which Pokemon he would use in his Gym Battle. He knew that Riolu would be his trump card in this Gym, being his only Fighting Type. The problem came when he thought about which other Pokemon he could use. He had Butterfree and Pidgeotto, who both were weak against Rock Types and he had Pikachu who would be very weak against the Rock Type Pokemon who also had Ground Type characteristics and he couldn't use Mew because she would attract too much attention. He could only come up with one solution – he had to teach his Pokémon moves which were strong against Rock Types. Ash determined that Steel Type moves would be the best to teach his Pokemon as Pikachu and Pidgeotto both could learn Steel Type moves. After getting some information from his Pokedex, he decided to teach his Pikachu **Iron Tail** and **Steel Wing** to his Pidgeotto.

"Hey, Cynthia." Ash called, walking towards the blonde-haired teen. Ash wanted to train his Pokemon, and he thought that training with Cynthia would help them both get stronger.

Cynthia cursed under her breath when she saw Ash making his way to her. 'Damn it!'

Cynthia knew that her grandmother would probably notice even a small blush from her. And at this point, Cynthia was still confused about her feelings for Ash, so she didn't want her grandmother to think anything else.

"You wanna train with me?"

Ash was now standing beside Cynthia and her grandmother could now see him. She smirked and chuckled as she finally understood why Cynthia wanted to meet her directly at .

"Uhh… Sure Ash." Cynthia muttered, unable to hide a small blush that crept up on her face when she thought about what her grandmother would think about her being with Ash.

"Who's the young man, Cynthia?" Cynthia's grandmother questioned sweetly, putting her hands on her hips and leaning closer to the screen, a wide grin plastered on her face.

This got Ash's attention as he turned to face the screen, finally taking notice of the lady on the phone.

"Gra-Grandma, this is Ash. He is a trainer from Pallet Town whom I met in Viridian City." Uttered Cynthia, staring at the ground nervously.

"Oh! Hello. I guess you are Cynthia's grandmother. It's nice to meet you, ma'am." Ash smiled confidently at the lady.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ash. I am Carolina." She snickered before turning her gaze to Cynthia. "You have a good taste in these things, Cynthia."

Cynthia's face flushed hearing this comment. Carolina never let a chance to embarrass her grand-daughter slip.

"I'll call you later, Grandma. I have some things to take care of." Cynthia grumbled and cut off the call with that. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth in annoyance. She was surely going to give a piece of her mind to her Grandmother later.

She then turned to Ash and smiled, able to keep her composure. "Let's go, Ash. We need to train for your Gym Battle, don't we? It would also help my Gible get stronger." Ash smiled and nodded.

* * *

Ash, Cynthia and Misty walked out of the Pokemon. Ash had told Misty to come with them to train and she accepted the offer, much to Cynthia's displeasure.

With training for Ash's battle in mind, Ash and the group came across a training field in the City. Ash wanted to start his training as soon as possible, because he desperately wanted to earn the Boulder Badge.

"So Ash, which Pokemon are you gonna train?" Cynthia said, removing her Gible's Pokeball out of her pocket and enlarging it. "All your Pokemon except for Riolu would be at a huge disadvantage going up against a Rock Type Gym Leader."

Hearing this Misty turned to Ash. "Hey Ash." She said nervously, blushing a little before adding. "Why don't you use my Water Type Pokemon? They would have the advantage in this Gym."

Cynthia raised an eyebrow at this. "No Misty. This is my Gym Battle and I will earn it by using my own Pokemon. They have worked hard for this and I have a counterplan for Rock Types." Ash spoke in a serious tone which caused Misty to shiver. Ash's glare made her regret suggesting an awful idea like that.

"You have a plan to make up for your Pokemon's weakness?" Cynthia asked, confused.

"Of course. You don't think I was doing nothing when I wasn't training my Pokemon, do you?" Ash grinned at her and sneered at her dazed expression. "The training I am going to do will be for my Pokemon to learn Steel-Type moves."

Ash's statement gave Cynthia as well as Misty an idea of what Ash was thinking. Steel Type moves were Super-effective against Rock-Type Pokemon and there were a few Steel-Type moves that Ash's Pokemon could learn.

Soon, our heroes begun their training. Misty released her Staryu, Cynthia released her Gible and Ash released all of his Pokemon except for Mew. He explained his Pokemon the plan and they all understood it perfectly.

He advised Riolu and Butterfree to rest for a while as they had done their share of training in Viridian Forest and told Pikachu and Pidgeotto to have a sparring match with Cynthia's Gible and Misty's Staryu respectively until he got back.

* * *

After wandering through Pewter City to find a place that was vacant of any humans, he found a small clearing with a few big rocks surrounding it. He was almost on the outskirts of the City, standing in a rocky area. He grabbed Mew's Pokeball from his pocket and released the Legendary Pokemon.

Mew took a good look around herself. Finding it devoid of any life, she snapped at Ash. _'That … was ….not … nice.'_ She kept her hands on her hips and glared at Ash.

Ash was a bit scared by Mew's sudden rage, taking a couple of steps back. What had he done to make her so furious at him?

"H-Hi, Mew!" he whimpered. "Why are you so angry at me?"

Mew just kept staring at Ash which made Ash feel more uncomfortable. Even though Mew was one of Ash's Pokemon now, Ash still didn't know her too well as he thought that she might just attack him in anger. _'You have kept me too long in that damn Pokeball. Do you even know how bored I was getting in there.'_

"We are in Pewter City now and there were too many people out here. You might have been spotted if I would have let you out. I am sorry." Ash apologized sweetly, looking down, his cap covering his face.

It didn't take long for Mew to calm down. She totally understood Ash and what he did was for the best. _'It's okay, Ash. But don't keep me in the Pokeball for that long again.' _She whispered slowly in her cute, telepathic voice, enveloping her trainer in a warm hug. Ash was a bit taken back by the hug but eventually wrapped her arms around Mew's soft, pink body. Somehow, Mew felt really happy when she was around Ash and it was the same for Ash too.

They finally pulled out of the hug as Ash spoke. "I need to train for my first Gym Mew. So why don't you go look around for a bit and come back after a while?" Ash gave Mew a warm smile.

Mew kept a paw on her chin and suddenly spoke. _'Hey, why don't you use me your Gym battle? I might be able to help you win.'_

"No, Mew. I don't want to use you in a Pokemon battle, at least not so soon. I think it is still too soon to reveal you. You are a Legendary Pokemon and some people might try to capture you." Ash stated seriously, clenching his fists before adding. "Mew, I don't think I am strong enough to protect you right now. I want you to be hidden until I feel like I could protect you from any danger anyone might pose to you."

Ash's determination to keep her safe made Mew's heart melt. She just nodded unable to say anything.

Just then, they heard rustling of bushes nearby.

* * *

After letting Mew out of her Pokeball, Ash had now returned back to the training fields. When Cynthia and Misty asked Ash why did he take so long and where did he go, he told them that he went to the Pokemon Center to lend a book from Nurse Joy which had details on how to teach Pokemon certain moves.

From the booklet, Ash grasped details on teaching Pokemon **Iron Tail** and **Steel Wing**. He learned that to teach a Pokemon Iron Tail, the Pokemon had to have a tail, which was basic knowledge. As he read more, he learned that Pikachu would have to first train his tail to be strong enough to break small boulders, and that such strength in his tail could be obtained by making him lift small stones with his tail and gradually increase the size and weight of the stone. Once done, the next things would be easy and might even come naturally.

When he searched for Steel Wing, he found that training to perfect **Steel Wing **was similar to learning **Iron Tail**, the difference was that the training had to be done with wings instead of tail.

Ash decided to train alongside his Pokemon, wanting to give his Pokemon more motivation, not that they didn't have enough.

After lifting stones with their tail and wings respectively for a few hours, Pikachu and Pidgeotto were now trying to break small boulders.

Ash pointed his his index finger in front of him and ordered. "Pikachu, use **Iron Tail** on that rock and Pidgeotto, use **Steel Wing** to the other one."

Pikachu sprinted towards the rock, eyes full of determination, and struck the boulder with his tail, cracking the boulder but not breaking it completely. His tail glowed for a second when he was hitting the rock, which didn't go unnoticed by Ash.

Pidgeotto was closer to learning Steel Wing than ever as she had crumbled the rock into pieces with her glowing wings.

Pikachu and Pidgeotto returned to their trainer's side after performing the attack, who bent down and started petting both of them.

"You are almost there, Pikachu. A few more tries and you will be using **Iron Tail** perfectly." Ash remarked, scratching Pikachu behind his ears and stroking Pidgeotto's feathers. Turning to Pidgeotto, he added. "You have got **Steel Wing** in the bag, Pidgeotto. It is amazing how you were able to learn it so quickly."

"Pikachaa." Squealed Pikachu.

"Pijoo!" cooed Pidgeotto, proud of the compliment she received from her trainer.

* * *

Soon, they went back to the Pokemon Center as it was already evening. Ash served the Pokemon food to all of the group's Pokemon. He even gave the food to Mew and in an empty space behind the Pokemon Center and she was overjoyed by the great tasting Pokemon food.

Ash and Cynthia were now resting in the main hall of the Pokemon Center while Riolu, Gible and Pikachu were playing nearby and Mew was watching them from a corner. She so wanted to play with them but she knew that Ash will introduce them to her when he thought the time was right.

"Where's Misty?" Ash questioned, looking around the Pokemon Center in search of the red-headed trainer.

"She told me that she wanted to call her sisters in Cerulean City." Replied Cynthia, coming a little closer to Ash, unbeknown to him. "So Ash, are you gonna challenge the Gym tomorrow?"

Turning to face her, Ash replied. "It depends really. I am planning on challenging the Gym as soon as Pikachu and Pidgeotto learn **Iron Tail** and **Steel Wing**."

"So you are planning to challenge the Pewter City Gym Leader, Brock, huh?" A voice came from behind them. They turned around and saw a man probably in his late 40s approaching them. He had a red beanie which covered his eyes, brown beard and was wearing a cream-colored vest and green trousers.

"Brock is a very good battler. If you are planning to challenge him without any preparations, you are sure to lose." The man said, sitting across Ash.

"Uh, Who are you?" Ash asked the mysterious man.

"I am Flint." He responded. "I am a local here and I know a lot about Brock. I can help you if you want."

"You would? But I want to beat him fair and square. Wouldn't it be unfair if you told me his secrets?" Ash titled his head, innocence in his eyes.

The mystery man chuckled at Ash's answer. "I don't mean I would tell you his secrets. I can help you by telling you how to train your Pokemon get stronger to counter Rock Types."

Ash was now getting interested in what the man named Flint had to explain. He would do anything to train his Pokemon to be stronger.

After Flint explained a few tricks on how to train better for Steel Type attacks, he left saying that he had some things to take care of.

Misty had been gone for a while now. Ash and Cynthia were waiting for her in the hall when suddenly, Misty marched to them with a sad expression which they were able to catch on.

"Hey, What's wrong Misty?" Ash asked, standing up frantically, worry evident in his gaze.

Cynthia, too was a bit anxious to know why Misty had such a look on her face. "Did something happen to you?" She asked, standing up and walking to Misty.

Misty stared at the ground with a depressed look and replied. "I need to leave for Cerulean City. I called my sisters and they told that they wanted me to come back. So, I guess this is the last day I would be with you guys for now." She faked a laugh and continued. "I will leave tomorrow morning."

Ash and Cynthia also looked a bit depressed. Even though Cynthia would get more time with Ash alone, Misty wasn't that bad or was she? Cynthia might not have liked when Misty came too close to Ash, but even she couldn't deny the fact that it was good to have her on their journey so far.

There was an awkward silence in the group for a few minutes. All of them were thinking about Misty's departure.

The silence was finally broken by Riolu as he walked to Ash. Looking up at him, he uttered through his aura. "Father, can we go through our battle strategy for the Gym once again?"

Riolu had been very excited about Ash's Pewter Gym Battle. He really wanted to win for his father. Every now and then, he used to ask Ash something about their battle. This was the third time Riolu asked Ash to discuss his match strategy with him.

Smiling at Riolu, Ash answered. "Sure, Riolu. But what do you say that we all have our dinner first and then I would explain our plan to you, so you could understand it better." He turned his gaze to the two girls, who nodded, agreeing in having dinner.

The dinner was quiet with Misty telling Ash and Cynthia a little about her sisters. She told them that her sisters were really good dancers and also told them that she along with her sisters were known as the _Sensational Sisters_. When she mentioned the Sensational sisters, Cynthia said that she had heard about them, while Ash was busy devouring his dinner, as usual.

After feeding all their Pokemon, the three teens rented two rooms for the night, Cynthia and Misty sharing one room. It had been a long day for our heroes especially Ash and his Pokemon and they drifted off to sleep as soon as they entered their room.

* * *

_**Next Morning**_

"I guess, this is … goodbye." Misty sadly said, playing with her hair.

Our heroes now appeared to be standing right outside the Pokemon Center. Misty was wearing her backpack and her usual clothes. She looked all ready to leave for her home as Ash and Cynthia were standing beside her, a little upset about the departure of their red-headed friend.

"Yeah… " mumbled Ash, giving a half smile, putting a hand in his pocket, nonchalantly while Cynthia remained silent.

Misty suddenly removed a paper and a pen from her bag and scribbled something on it. Stretching her hand, she offered the paper to Ash, who took the paper.

"What's this?" Ash blinked, confused at the numbers Misty had written. Cynthia leaned forward, attempting to read what was written in the paper.

"Umm. It's my…. Pokegear number." Misty uttered, her cheeks turning red. "Call me when you reach Cerulean City. I wouldn't mind showing you around." She turned her face in the other direction in order to hide her blush.

There were a few moments of silence between our heroes, which made Misty more nervous. Thousands of thoughts ran through her mind in the short amount of time. 'Is he gonna be mad at me for suggesting that? What would Cynthia think? Will he –'

Her train of thoughts were broken when Ash said something. She nervously looked up to see confused expressions on Ash 's face and a frown on Cynthia's. "What…. What did you say?"

Ash smiled at her. "I said that I would love it if you show me around."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu joyfully exclaimed, jumping from onto Misty's shoulder and nuzzling her cheek with her own, making her simper.

She was internally jumping for joy. She thought that she might get to spend some quality time with Ash, alone in Cerulean City. "I should be on my way now. Goodbye" She said, upset about leaving her new friends. She started walking, waving her good byes

"Bye." Ash and Cynthia said in unison, waving their hands at Misty, who was out of their sight after a few minutes.

Cynthia kept a hand on her shoulder and leaned closer to his ear. Smiling, she whispered. "Ash, don't you have to train? You Gym Badge is waiting for you."

Her beautiful voice sent sparks throughout Ash's body, something he never had felt before. The silent, cold breeze was making Cynthia's gorgeous blonde hair fly in the air, and it was an absolutely beautiful. He turned to see her, and for the first time he actually noticed how beautiful she looked up close. The sight made him stare at the charming girl, and he felt something he had never felt before.

Returning back to reality, he punched the air and yelled in his usual enthusiastic tone. "Let's win the Boulder Badge!"

* * *

The sun was shining brightly on our heroes as Ash was standing right in front of the Pewter Gym, where he intends to win his first Gym Badge.

Ash trained his Pikachu and Pidgeotto the previous day and they had perfected their Steel Type moves. After training, Cynthia had pulled Ash to visit the museum in that was in the far north of the City. They learned many things in there, mostly about the Pokemon which are revived from fossils. Ash was surprised to how much Cynthia knew about Pokemon archaeology. When asked about it, she told him that she studied about Pokemon archaeology under her grandma when she was younger.

Next Cynthia dragged Ash to visit the photo studio. The photo had Cynthia hugging Ash's right arm, Pikachu on Ash's shoulder, Riolu sitting on Ash's other shoulder, Butterfree sitting on Ash's head and Pidgeotto and Gible standing on either side of their trainers. The photo was really cute and even the photographer complimented Ash and Cynthia of making a really cute couple, which made both of their faces flush in embarrassment and Ash explained to the photographer that they were just friends , who was sceptical about it but laughed it off.

Ash marched forward with confidence, Pikachu perched on his shoulder and Cynthia walking side by side with him. Even Cynthia seemed excited to watch Ash's Gym Battle. Mew insisted on watching the battle, so Ash released her from her Pokeball and she was now hiding near a window of the Gym.

Opening the massive doors of the Gym, Ash along with Cynthia, walked inside to find a dark room. He looked around for a minute but it was too dark to see anything.

"Hello, is anyone in there?" Ash shouted. "I am here to have a Gym battle for the Boulder Badge."

Suddenly, the room was now brightened as the lights were turned on. Ash and Cynthia could now see a man with tanned skin, who appeared to be in his late teens, standing on the opposite side of what seemed like a battle field, with many boulders of different sizes all around it.

"So you are a challenger, huh?" asked the boy, his tone full of seriousness.

Ash stared at the boy for a few seconds before replying. "Yes. I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

"Alright. I am Brock Slate, the Pewter City Gym Leader and I accept your challenge."

Brock instructed Cynthia to go upstairs, if she was here to watch the match. Cynthia complied and walked to the stands of the Gym.

Ash and Brock stood on their particular sides of the battlefield, glaring at each other with determined eyes. The referee appeared to be a young boy, about 10 years of age. He walked to the center of the field and announced. "This will be a 2-on-2 Official Pokemon League Gym battle between Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and Brock, The Pewter City Gym Leader. Only the challenger is allowed to substitute Pokemon."

As soon as the the referee finished, Brock threw his Pokeball in the field and a Pokemon with a face and two hands that appeared to be made out of stone took the field.

"Geo Geodude." Brock's Pokemon said.

'So he is using a Geodude, huh? Should have figured that one out.' Ash smirked, looking down at Pikachu who was standing beside him. "Pikachu, are you ready?"

"Pika Pika." He nodded and dashed on the battlefield.

Ash's unusual choice surprised Brock as he blinked in surprise. "You are going to use an electric Type against my Geodude?" In his years as a Gym Leader, there was no challenger that used a Pikachu against him. "You know that your Pikachu's Electric attacks won't have any effect on my Geodude, don't you?"

"Of course." Ash said confidently. "But Pikachu knows more than just Electric-Type moves."

"If you say so. Let's get this match underway." He stared at Pikachu for a moment to take in anything he had missed about this Pikachu.

"Begin!" The young referee exclaimed, lifting the both the red and green flags.

"Geodude, start with **Rock Throw**." Brock commanded to his Rock Pokemon, who obeyed as it punched the battlefield and many small rocks were sent flying in Pikachu's direction.

Ash quickly manipulated a plan in his mind and spoke. "Pikachu, use **Agility** to dodge the rocks and then use **Quick Attack **at the Geodude."

Pikachu ran on all fours, from one side to another at high speeds, dodging all the rocks and disappearing a few times while performing the move. Then, he started circling around Geodude to confuse it and it seemed to work as Geodude wasn't able to keep up with Pikachu's speed and that is when Pikachu dashed at Geodude with a **Quick Attack**, and did some damage, albeit very little.

"Impressive speed your Pikachu's got there." Brock complimented with a grin. He always loved a good battle and Ash seemed like he would give him one. "But my Geodude's defense power is too strong to be affected by a weak Normal-Type attack like that."

Changing his expression to a serious one, he ordered. " Geodude, jump and use **Tackle** on Pikachu."

Even though Pikachu was very quick, Geodude managed to hit him, throwing him backwards and doing quite some damage.

"Pikachu, are you okay?" Ash asked his partner, who got up, yelled a 'Pika' and nodded.

"Geodude, don't let Pikachu recover. Use **Rollout**."

As soon as Brock's command reached Geodude's invisible ears, he curled himself into a ball and charged at Pikachu, at a speed which could be considered unbelievable for a Geodude.

Sensing the danger, Ash decided that it was now time to use the strategy he had worked so hard on along with his Pokemon. He looked at Pikachu who returned his gaze and both of them grinned. "Pikachu, let's show them the results of our training." Pointing his index finger at the incoming Geodude, he exclaimed. "Use **Iron Tail**!"

Brock's eyes widened in surprise when he heard Ash. 'How in the world did a kid who started his journey only ten days ago teach his Pokemon, such an advanced move like **Iron Tail**?' The Pewter Gym Leader questioned himself in his mind.

At first, brock thought that Ash was only bluffing and it was just a trick to put him off. But then he realized that this kid wasn't like any other rookie trainer he had ever faced. This kid was different. While most rookie trainers would have told their Pokemon to attack head on, Ash made his Pokemon dodge the attack instead and only ordered his Pokemon to attack when he saw an opening.

While Brock was thinking about all this, he didn't notice that the yellow rodent had struck his Geodude with **Iron Tail**, stopping it's Rollout and sending him crashing on the ground.

Geodude shakily got up, clearly taking heavy damage from the attack.

Snapping back to reality, Brock carefully analysed the situation. He knew one more attack like that and it would be all over for Geodude. He had to end this battle quickly. "Geodude, show them your **Brick Break**. Use it at full power."

"Geodudeee." Geodude's right fist glowed brightly as he made his way towards Pikachu.

Ash too, decided to put everything into this attack. "Pikachu, use **Iron Tail** with everything you've got."

"Pika." He shouted, instantly sprinting towards the Geodude.

Brock was astonished by how well refined Pikachu's **Iron Tail** was. He knew a good **Iron Tail** when he saw one.

Cynthia was cheering Pikachu with words of encouragement from the stands, as the yellow rodent and the Rock Pokemon battled for dominance in a duel of **Iron Tail** and **Brick Break**.

"Don't give in, Pikachu." Ash encouraged his Pikachu, clenching his fists.

"Pika… pi." He uttered, putting everything he had in the **Iron Tail**.

"Geodude, I know you can do it." Brock said, determination evident in his unseeable eyes.

"Geooo.." yelled Geodude, also putting every bit of strength he had in his attack.

Pikachu's iron Tail was now pushing Geodude to it's limits as Pikachu started to push him back. After a loud 'Pika', Pikachu mustered up all his strength into the **Iron Tail **and Geodude was sent flying backwards as it hit one of the walls of the Gym, blowing dust in the process, which made everyone wait in anticipation.

The dust finally cleared to reveal an unconscious Geodude lying on the ground, with swirls in it's eyes.

"Geodude is unable to battle. Pikachu is the winner." The referee announced after observing Geodude, much to the joy of Ash and Pikachu but they weren't as expressive about it as a certain blonde teen, who was yelling words of praise for Ash. Ash just rolled his eyes, while a tired and bruised-up Pikachu jumped in his arms, happily nuzzling his face against his best friend's chest.

Even Mew cheered for Ash from her hidden position.

Brock smiled seeing the bond between trainer and Pokemon. He returned his Geodude, thanking him for a well fought battle. Brock was really enjoying this battle. He never thought that he would see his Geodude being defeated by a rookie's Electric-Type, a Pikachu no less.

Putting away Geodude's Pokeball, in his hand was now placed another Pokeball. He looked at the ball intently for a few moments before looking at Ash.

"I give you credit for defeating my Geodude, Ash. Your Pikachu is very well trained. But now, it's time for me to bring out my strongest Pokemon." He threw the Pokeball on the field and called. "Onix, Go!"

The Pokeball snapped open on the field to reveal a large grey-coloured snake-like Pokemon. It's body was made up of rocks and it had a rocky spine on it's head.

"Rhoaa." The Onix roared.

Ash quickly removed his Pokedex and scanned Onix. **"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. Onix takes an enormous amount of soil to its mouth creating long tunnels."**

Ash took in every detail of the giant Pokemon. He then looked at Pikachu, who was now standing beside him. "I think you should sit this one out, buddy. You know how excited Riolu is for this battle, right?"

Pikachu happily nodded and gave Ash a thumbs up. Brock was again amused by the interactions between Ash and Pikachu.

Staring at the Onix, Ash pulled out a Pokeball from his belt and threw it, rotating 360 degrees in the process. "Riolu, I choose you!"

The Pokeball opened and Riolu now appeared on the battlefield, glaring at his giant opponent. He was not intimidated by the massive Onix, whatsoever. If there was one thing Riolu inherited from Ash, it was to never be afraid.

Brock was just gazing at Riolu in surprise. He had never seen a Riolu in person before. As a breeder, Brock knew about most Pokemon from across all regions. He had read that Riolu were very rare and were hardly seen in the wild even in their native region, Sinnoh.

"Ash, didn't you tell me you are from Pallet Town?" The Gym Leader asked to which Ash nodded. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that Riolu? I have heard that they are only seen in the wild in the Sinnoh region."

"Oh, the thing is that on my way to Viridian City, I found an Egg which hatched into the Riolu you are seeing." Ash said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head and laughing.

This surprised Brock even more but he decided not to push it right now. Ash was here for a Gym battle and as the Gym Leader, finishing the battle was his first priority. He nodded his head and the referee signalled for the battle to begin.

"Alright Onix, use **Rock Tomb **from all sides, and don't let that Riolu move easily."

Wasting no time, Ash also commanded Riolu. "Riolu, use **Quick Attack** to dodge and then attack with **Force Palm**."

Roaring loudly, Onix slammed it's tail on the ground creating medium sized rocks, and directing them at Riolu, who used **Quick Attack** in an attempt to dodge but one rock managed to hit him.

Riolu cried in pain but continued to charge towards Onix.

Feeling the need to call out an attack, Brock spoke. "Onix, wait for it to come closer and then use **Bind**."

Riolu placed his palm at Onix and was about to use Force Palm, when he suddenly found himself tightly in Onix's grip.

Ash grit his teeth at this. Brock's Onix was really strong. He wasnt joking when he said that Onix was his strongest Pokemon. Ash quickly brainstormed to think of a plan to escape this hole. If he didn't come up with something really fast, he might lose this round. Cynthia kept a hand on her chest, praying that Ash somehow might find a solution for this situation.

Just then an idea struck him and Brock noticed the change in Ash's expression. Ash smirked as he called out. "Riolu, try a **Blaze Kick** on Onix and then use **Quick Attack** to escape it's grasp."

Onix had a tight grip on Riolu but his legs were still freely able to move. Without sparring a moment, Riolu's right foot became surrounded by red-hot flames as he kicked Brock's Onix, who roared in agony letting loose of Riolu, who quickly returned to his trainer's side with the use of **Quick Attack**. The move wasn't too effective, but it still managed to do some damage. Ash and Cynthia both sighed in relief.

Ash looked at Riolu and he realized that he was tired. Ash knew that he shouldn't let this battle go on for too long.

"Riolu, use **Force Palm**, again." Ash ordered, still able to maintain his composure in the heat of this battle.

"Use **Iron Tail**, quickly." Brock screamed frantically, as Riolu started closing the distance between himself and Onix.

Riolu quickly ran at Onix, who was recovering from the previous **Blaze Kick**. And this time Riolu managed to strike as he placed his palm on Onix, and unleashed a bright yellow blast of energy, which sent the Onix crashing on the ground.

"Get up, Onix." Brock pleaded, clenching his fists, as his Onix struggled to get up.

But Ash had other plans. He wanted to end this before Onix could recover. "Riolu, use **Quick Attack** to get in close and end this with a final **Force Palm**."

Riolu obliged to his father's order as he used **Quick Attack** and got close to Onix and before it could get up completely, he unleashed another **Force Palm** attack, sending all kinds of debris in all directions.

Everyone in the Gym nervously waited for the outcome of the battle as the dust began to clear, revealing Riolu standing on one knee over an unconscious and bruised up Onix.

"O-Onix is unable to … continue. Therefore, the winners are Riolu and Ash Ketchum." The young boy declared. Even he was surprised at how Brock's Onix got beat.

Brock stared at the battlefield in utter disbelief. His Onix had been defeated by a Pokemon who supposedly hatched only a few days ago. He sighed, accepting defeat. Brock was a wise man and he knew when he'd been outclassed.

Meanwhile, Riolu was jumping in joy as he merrily hugged Ash. Even Cynthia ran to Ash and gave him a hug, congratulating him for winning his first Gym Badge.

"Ash!" Brock called, getting everyone's attention. "You have defeated me in all aspects of Pokemon battling." He removed a black, shining boulder-like badge from his pocket and added. "And as proof of you victory here at the Pewter Gym, I proudly present you with the Boulder Badge."

Ash took hold of the offered badge and carefully gazed at it. He had finally won his first ever Gym Badge. He felt like he was the happiest person in the whole world.

Raising the badge in the air, he did his signature pose and yelled aloud. "I WON THE BOULDER BADGE!"

Pikachu and Riolu joined in the pose and surprisingly even Cynthia did the victory sign with her fingers.

Watching them made Brock sweatdrop. 'I guess you can't have them all.' He thought as he chuckled at the enthusiastic, joyful group of humans and Pokemon alike.

* * *

Next morning, Brock was sitting in his Gym reading a book about Pokemon breeding. "I really wished I could have been able to travel with someone like Ash. The way he raises his Pokemon, I could learn a lot from him." Brock thought out loud, but he wasn't aware that a certain figure leaning against one of the walls nearby had herd that.

"So why not go with him and follow your dream?" the figure said getting Brock's attention.

Turning to look at the man, brock noticed that the man was wearing a red beanie and had a brown beard. The man was actually Flint who gave Ash a bit of advice in the Pokemon Center. "Who are you?" Brock asked.

Flint removed his beard and beanie, and the moment his face was clearly visible, Brock was left speechless.

Only one word escaped his mouth. "Father." Getting back to reality, he snapped at Flint. "Why are you back. Didn't you… din't you abandon us?"

Flint stared at Brock for a few moments. "I never abandoned you all. I failed in becoming what I wanted and I was too ashamed to come back home since. I could… never leave my family."

There was an awkward silence between the two for a while until Flint spoke again. "I wasn't able to fulfil my dream, but I don't want the same to happen to you. You go follow your dream and don't worry about anything here. I have a lot to explain to your mother and your siblings."

* * *

_**Route 3**_

Ash and Cynthia were now heading towards Mt. Moon as they started to make their way through Route 3, Cynthia gazing at the photo they took while in Pewter City, blushing at the close proximity between her and Ash.

Riolu was out of his Pokeball as he and Pikachu were discussing about their battle in Pokespeech. Pikachu's compliment made Riolu rub the back of his head, a habit that he inherited from his father.

"Hey, Wait up,….Ash!" Came a familiar from behind our heroes.

Everyone turned behind to find out that the voice belonged to Brock, the Pewter Gym Leader who was running in their direction. When he reached them, he looked Ash in the eyes. "Ash, It has always been my dream to become the world's greatest Pokemon breeder. Battling with you showed me why you are so good at battling, because it's your passion." After a moment of silence, he continued. "Would it be okay with you if I join you on your journey?"

It took Ash and Cynthia a while to register what Brock told them. But after that, Ash spoke without any hesitation. "Of course, Brock. It would be great to have you on my Pokemon journey as Cynthia will be leaving for Sinnoh soon. She's just here on a vacation." Ash offered a hand to Brock. Brock nodded and grinning, he shook Ash's offered hand.

Just then, something burst out of the ground behind them.

"Gib-Gible."

* * *

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	7. Who's That Gible?

_**Who's That Gible?**_

* * *

**I know it's been a while since I last updated. I am sorry for that.**

**I had half of this chapter done a couple of weeks ago but I didn't really feel like writing in those two weeks. Today, I finally completed it.**

**So, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

**Ages :**

Ash - 13

Cynthia - 13

Brock - 17

_**Speeches :**_

"A" – Normal Human Speech

'A' - Thoughts

'_A' – _Telepathic Speech / Aura Speech

* * *

"Gib-Gible."

Everyone turned around to see a creature Ash and Cynthia recognized pretty easily while it being the first time Brock personally saw one.

As soon as Ash saw the Gible, his eyes sparkled. "Hey ,do you think that it's a wild Gible?" Ash excitedly asked Cynthia, leaning closer to her.

Cynthia observed the Gible for a while before she answered. "It seems so."

"But what's a Gible doing in the Kanto region?" Ash and Cynthia turned to Brock, who was also carefully gazing at the Gible.

"You're right. And from the looks of it, it looks as though this Gible is male." Cynthia stated calmly facing Ash, who tilted his head in confusion.

"How do you know it's male?" He asked Cynthia simply.

Ash might have failed to notice the slight difference between Cynthia's Gible and the one in front of them, but Cynthia didn't. She knew her Gible too well to not distinguish Gible by gender.

While the humans were discussing about the gender differences, Pikachu and Riolu seemed to be having an amusing conversation with the Gible as Pikachu smirked at the Gible, who seemed to be turning a little red.

"Because the Gible has a groove in his fin." Brock said, musing the seemingly male Gible.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared from inside Cynthia's pocket and her Gible now stood right next to the male Gible.

"Gible Gib.. ble." She spoke shyly, looking at the ground, a blush creeping onto her blue face.

"Gible." The male Gible punched the air, moving closer to Cynthia's Gible.

At this, Cynthia kept a finger on her chin in thought. "Does my Gible know him?" She thought out loud.

This caught Brock's attention as something struck him. He was thinking about the reason the male Gible being here and it seemed something Cynthia said got his mind working.

"That's it!" He exclaimed loudly, snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"What's it?" Ash questioned, confused at Brock's sudden outburst.

Brock turned to face Ash as he started to speak. "The whole reason why the Gible is here is because he must be Cynthia's Gible's friend, or her future mate." Hearing this, Cynthia got interested in Brock's explanation as he continued. "I think this Gible wanted to meet Cynthia's Gible but it wasn't because of Cynthia having her as her Pokemon. So he must have followed Cynthia all the way here from Sinnoh in order to find a perfect opportunity to see her Gible." He smirked watching two Gibles interact.

Cynthia stared at her Gible in thought for a few moments until she squealed. "That's so cute." She took hold of Ash's arm and dragged him to the two Gible.

When they went near the Gible, the male Gible came in front of Cynthia's Gible and took a fighting stance. "Giib-ble!" He screamed at the two approaching humans.

Gible's scream made both Ash as well as Cynthia stop. They knew that the Gible was probably wild and he might attack them. They needed to deal with him carefully, so that he doesn't freak out and attack them.

"Hey, Gible." Ash greeted him, holding out his hand, but the Gible didn't seemed to be impressed. Seeing this, Cynthia's Gible came forward and told something to the male Gible and after a moment, he seemed to relax a bit as he cautiously advanced towards Ash and Cynthia.

"You don't need to be scared of us." Cynthia moved towards the Gible, who stared at her. "We won't hurt you. You know Gible here is my best friend, just as she is yours."

Meanwhile, Brock searched for something in his backpack. Removing a purple-coloured container from his bag, Brock came to Ash and removed what seemed like Pokemon food from the container. 'I think Ash is the perfect guy to tame this Gible.'

"Ash, you should try giving this Pokemon food I made to the Gible. It's Pokemon food specifically made for Dragon-Types. He might ease up after that." He told Ash, who nodded, took the food from Brock and bent down to Gible's level.

"Hey Gible, try this." He kept the food in front of the Gible and continued. "It's Pokemon food by Brock, here." Ash pointed his finger to Brock as Gible took a good look at the third human in the group. "It's food made for Dragon Types and I am sure you will like it."

Gible carefully took one bite of the Pokemon food from the ground. After chewing It down, he gazed at Ash, which made him a little doubtful that Gible might not have liked the food.

"Gible-ble-ble." Cried Gible in delight as he jumped at Ash and started biting his head playfully.

"Aaaa….." Gible's bite made Ash scream as pain surged throughout his head.

He grabbed Gible with both his hands attempting to free his head off Gible's grip, but he found little success. Soon, Cynthia and Brock joined in and after struggling a little, they finally managed to get Gible off Ash's head.

Ash held his head in both his hands as he stared at Gible. "You dure bite hard, don't you Gible?" Ash chuckled while the Gible just proudly stood there with a hand to his tiny, almost non-existent waist. The scene made everyone in the group including the Pokemon burst out in laugher.

"Hey Ash, Cynthia!" Brock called out for his two travelling companions after everyone calmed down. "Let's have a lunch break. I can cook a meal for you guys."

Without paying much attention to what Brock said, the two humans nodded. But the moment they realized what Brock had said, they almost yelled. "You can cook?"

Smirking at them, Brock nodded his head.

While Brock prepared lunch, Ash and Cynthia let their Pokemon out. They all introduced themselves to the new Gible and started to play, more like tease the couple of Gible.

* * *

"Lunch is ready." Brock stated merrily and it didn't take long for those words to reach a certain raven-haired teen as he ran straight to Brock.

"I am starving." Ash said eyeing the food and a moment later, he started gulping down the food as fast as he could.

Brock appeared to have a confused expression on his face when he saw Ash's unusual table manners. When Cynthia noticed this, she sighed. "Don't worry about him Brock. He loves to eat." Nodding, Brock chuckled.

"Hey Brock, This food's awesome." Ash remarked with his mouth full with the great tasting food, which earned a laugh from Brock.

"Thanks Ash. I try my best."

* * *

Soon, our heroes and all their Pokemon had finished eating their food. Ash again had to make an excuse to find a safe and hidden place to let Mew out. When Mew ate the food Brock made, she was in love with it. Apparently, Mew was a food lover just like her trainer. Although she didn't eat as much as Ash and she had better table manners tan him, one couldn't deny that she loved eating different kinds of food. She asked Ash who made the food. And Ash told her everything that happened from Brock joining them to Gible's encounter. Ash even promised her to introduce her to Brock once he felt he could trust him to an extent where he could let Brock know his secrets.

Brock placed all his cooking utensils in his backpack and picked it up. "Ash, I say we should get going."

"Yeah. Everyone return." Ash recalled all of his Pokemon except for Pikachu and Riolu to their Pokeballs.

Meanwhile, Cynthia appeared to be in thought as she was staring at the two Gible for quite a while now. She was unaware that her two companions were all packed up and ready to go.

Noticing Cynthia's state, Ash decided to snap her out of her train of thoughts. Squeezing Cynthia's arm softly, he calmly spoke. "Cynthia, we're leaving." His voice was only more than a whisper.

Cynthia immediately looked up and after taking in what Ash had said, she nodded. Standing up, she began to pack her stuff.

Suddenly, Ash, Brock and Cynthia heard Pikachu's and Riolu's cries. Following the screams, their gaze was met by a giant Pikachu, which they immediately figured was a robotic Pikachu.

The robot had Ash's Pikachu and Riolu caged in two different glass containers. Both of them were trying to get out of it by using their attacks, only to be pushed back by the force of their own moves.

"Pikachu, Riolu!" Ash yelled running towards his two Pokemon but just then, two humans and a Meowth appeared on top of the robot.

*Insert Team Rocket motto here*

"Not you guys, again!" Cynthia exclaimed, clearly annoyed by the trio of Pokemon thieves. She was not in the mood to deal with the likes of Team Rocket right now.

"Didn't you guys learn your lesson when we defeated you in Viridian City?" Ash asked sarcastically.

This seemed to have ticked off Jessie as a vein appeared on her forehead. "Listen twerp. The only reason you were able to stop us last time was because you took us by surprise." She pointed her hand to the cages in which Pikachu and Riolu were trapped. "But now as you can see, you are helpless. You don't even have your two Pokemon." She smirked.

Meanwhile, something caught Meowth's interest as he began to speak. "Hey Jess, James. Look at those two." He pointed at the two Gible. "Did they have two of those Gibles when they blasted us off in Viridian City?" His two partners just dumbly shook their heads and all the three of them now had a menacing smile as they eyed the two land-shark Pokemon.

Noticing their intentions, Ash and Cynthia immediately snapped at them in unison. "You are not getting Gible."

"You can't stop us twerps." James yelled with a grin, as he pressed some buttons of a remote and the robot began to move towards the Gibles.

"Gibbble!" The wild Gible roared standing firmly, not in the least bit intimidated by the approaching machine. The Gible seemed like a really brave Pokemon to do that.

Promptly, Ash pulled out two Pokeballs from his belt and threw them in the air and his Butterfree and Pidgeotto appeared. Flapping their wings, both of the Flying types took their positions beside their trainer.

"Go Onix. **Tackle** that giant robot. "With that, Brock's giant rock snake Pokemon came out of his ball and let out a loud roar.

"Pidgeotto, Butterfree. Use your **Gust** attack on that fake Pikachu." Ash commanded and his two Flying Types immediately obliged as they created a huge gust of wind.

Both of them aimed the Gust at the Pikachu robot and quickly it connected with it, but the attack did next to nothing. It was followed up by Brock's Onix's **Tackle** attack, even which wasn't strong enough to destroy the mechanical Pikachu.

"WHAT?" Both Ash and Brock screamed. They couldn't believe that Team Rocket's robot was unfazed by their Pokemon's attacks. But unbeknown to anyone, the attack from Onix, Pidgeotto and Butterfree had taken quite a toll on the robot, as their attacks formed a few cracks on it from the inside, which went unnoticed by the Team Rocket trio.

"Hahahaha…" The three Team Rocket members laughed at our heroes.

'Damn it!' Ash thought as he gritted his teeth in frustration. Even the composed Brock appeared to be having trouble staying calm at this point. They were being drawn in the corner by some nobodies. As a Gym Leader, Brock should have been able to stop them, but he wasn't.

"You twerps can't even touch us in here." Jessie laughed off from inside the robot, which could be heard outside as they had microphones connected.

"We boiught this mecha using all the money we had. I even spent Jessie and James' advances for this thing." Meowth stated, snickering.

As soon as Jessie heard Meowth, she glared at him. "What did you say?"

Meowth backed a little, clearly scared of Jessie's wrath. She was a hot-head after all.

"I-uh….." Meowth uttered. Turning around quickly, he pointed one of his three fingers at James. "It was James who suggested that we use up all of our money to catch those twerps' Pokemon."

"Hey, I never said that. It was you, Meowth." James said and with that, they both began scratching and punching each other. Seeing this made Jessie even angrier. She stood up and smashed both James and Meowth on the head.

"Oww." They both cried in pain.

Glaring at them angrily, Jessie spoke. "Now, you two stop fighting. What's done is done. We have to catch those Pokemon now."

Both of her partners nodded their heads in agreement.

* * *

While Team Rocket were fighting, Butterfree, Pidgeotto and Onix had landed some more attacks on the Team Rocket mecha. Even the two Gibles joined in and they were attacking the robot with their own attacks.

Pikachu and Riolu were having little success in their own attempts to get out of the trap.

"What's that thing made of?" Cynthia questioned, frustrated that they were unable to do anything to it.

The robotic Pikachu finally closed in on the Gibles and captured both of them in two glass container, similar to those in which they trapped Pikachu and Riolu.

"Gible, No!" Cynthia yelled as she saw her Gible being taken away by Team Rocket.

Just then, Ash ran at the robot and tackled it.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Brock asked Ash as he saw him constantly tackling the robot, and being thrown back.

Cynthia joined her hands and held them near her chest. 'Oh, Ash!'

All the Pokemon including the new Gible, were looking at Ash in admiration. They had never seen someone with this much determination and love for others. He truly was a great person, and an even better Pokemon trainer. Any Pokemon who would be taken care of by him would be considered lucky.

Gible seemed to be really taken aback by Ash's will. Team Rocket laughed at Ash because of his failed attempts to free his Pokemon, but that made little impact on Ash.

Then something struck Gible; he realized he was Ash's friend too. He must help him in any way he could.

"Gibbble!" He screamed his named and he was surrounded by a blue aura.

Ash, Brock and Cynthia all looked at Gible, trying to figure out what was happening to him.

"What's that?" Cynthia asked to no one in particular, unable to take her eyes away from Gible.

Brock after contemplating for a moment replied. "I think that's **Dragon Rush**."

"**Dragon Rush**? But I thought it is an extremely hard move to master and only high level Dragon Pokemon can learn it." Cynthia appeared to be a little sceptical about the wild Gible knowing Dragon Rush.

"Yes. But that doesn't rule out the fact that unevolved Pokemon like Gible can't learn it." Brock explained to which Cynthia nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, the container in which Gible was trapped blasted and a huge cloud of smoke was formed.

Soon, the smoke cleared to reveal the Pikachu robot destroyed and all the Pokemon free along with a bruised up Ash.

They also spotted Team Rocket flying towards the sky. "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" The trio said before they disappeared into the sky with a twinkle.

"Ash!" Cynthia screamed in panic, quickly rushing towards the raven-haired trainer, who didn't seem to be in good condition. Brock along with all the Pokemon also followed suit.

"Ash, are you okay?" Cynthia asked worriedly as she took one of Ash's hand and held it tightly with her own.

Slowly opening his eyes, Ash spoke much to the relief of all the Pokemon and humans around. "Of course I am. Do you think that those three idiots could harm me?" He laughed.

But his laugh was short lived as Cynthia entered into a bone-crushing hug with him. "Don't ever do that again, you dummy."

Ash felt a bit of guilt. He was rash and he didn't once think about how Cynthia or even Brock for that matter might feel. With an apologetic expression on his face, Ash moved his hand through Cynthia's soft, blond hair, and said. "I'm sorry, Cynthia."

After a couple of minutes, Cynthia separated from Ash with a huge smile on her face and a little cue of red too as she saw Brock smirking at her and she knew the exact reason of that.

"Hey Ash, feeling okay?" Brock asked, to which Ash nodded and they both shared a small chuckle.

"Pi Pikachu."

"Father!"

Both, Riolu and Pikachu ran at their trainer and hugged him. Cynthia and her Gible also reunited.

"I am happy to see you guys are doing well to."

After a minute of rejoicing with Pikachu and Riolu, Ash turned to face Gible who stood right next to him.

"Hey Gible…. Um. Thanks for helping us out there. I don't know if I could have been able to save Pikachu and the other without your help." Ash chuckled.

This made Gible overjoyed as he jumped at Ash and started biting his head happily. "Gible Gib."

"Ow ow owww." Ash screamed as he stood up and tried his hardest to get rid of Gible from his head.

Watching this made everyone burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

"They get along well. Don't you think?" Brock asked , smiling and turning to look at Cynthia.

"Yeah. They do." She replied, gazing at Ash the whole time, which made Brock's smile turn into a grin.

* * *

After a while, our heroes were once again ready to continue their travels. Ash changed his clothes and he internally thanked his mother for packing another pair of clothes for him.

It still appeared to be afternoon as the sun was nowhere near setting and it was the whole reason that Brock decided that they should cover up more distance before calling it a day.

"So Gible, what are going to do from here?" Ash asked the wild Gible, who gave him a confused look.

"Gib?" he uttered.

"Pi-pika Pikachu pi." Pikachu spoke in Pokespeech to which Gible nodded.

Looking up at Ash, Gible smiled and jumped up again and bit Ash head, which made Ash cry in pain. "Get off of my head, Gible!"

"I guess that's Gible's choice then." Brock sniggered, happily looking at the human and Pokemon.

"You mean…." Cynthia trailed off, gazing at Ash and the Gible.

Brock glanced at Cynthia and spoke. "Yes. I think that Gible wants to go with Ash."

Ash was finally able to get Gible off his head. He overheard what Brock said and gazed at Gible. "Is it true Gible? You want to come with me?"

Gible happily nodded. "Gib Gible!"

"If that's what you want, then welcome to the team."

With that, Ash removed an empty Pokeball from his pocket and hit Gible with it and Gible was sucked into the Pokeball with a red light. After shaking three times, the Pokeball made a _ping_ sound, signifying that Gible was caught.

With sparkle in his eyes, Ash jumped up in delight and did his victory pose. "Yes. I caught a Gible."

"Pi-Pikachu!" "Riiioulu!" exclaimed Pikachu and Riolu joining in the pose.

Cynthia and Brock smiled at Ash, happy for their friend's new capture and they resumed their journey to Mt. Moon.

* * *

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